


Undone

by idjitwithabluebox



Category: Dragonlance - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-04-09 10:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4344710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idjitwithabluebox/pseuds/idjitwithabluebox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a strange girl literally drops into his life, young Raistlin Majere worries the effect she will have on his sanity. He doesn't even have a clue as to what effect she will have on his future...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Accidental Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> First crack at a romance story and what better platform than my favorite book series and one of the most interesting characters I've ever read?!
> 
> Basically, a Soulforge AU
> 
> Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonlance or any of its characters- Klea is mine though

13th Winter

Snow drifted gently down through the trees into the small clearing. It had been heavier during the night, forming a thick blanket over top of the fallen tree trunk in the center, which had a while ago been dragged to its current position in the clearing by young, soft hands. Those hands had gotten no end of splinters from dragging it, but the excellent seat it provided had been worth Weird Meggin's digging about in his hands for them.

Raistlin smirked at the impression his feet left in the snow, marring the perfect covering of the ground. He was leaving his mark, proclaiming his presence long after he left this clearing until either the snow filled it back in or melted away completely. Not that there was anyone there to notice his presence.

Although, that was kind of the point. This was his hideout from the stupid boys who thought that snowball fights were such fun- as if being soaked to the skin in freezing weather held any appeal. This was Raistlin's solace from the boys, his classmates, who called him the Sly One and either taunted or completely ignored him. In all honesty, the latter was worse. Even though teasing and violence was negative, it was still attention. It showed the children considered him enough to take time out of their day to interact with him. Their complete dismissal of him on the other hand communicated that he was no longer worth that. He was of no further interest to them, he might as well disappear and no one would care.

Raistlin's smirk turned to a sneer.

He brushed away the snow piled upon the log and took a seat. The wood was wet and Raistlin's nose was already starting to run as he opened up his book. Maybe it wasn't worth it today, to read out here alone. He'd just go back inside, maybe sit with Marm in the kitchen. With a sigh Raistlin closed the book, stood up from his seat hoping the wetness from the snow hadn't seeped into his robes yet, and took a step to return to the school.

CRACK!

Raistlin stumbled in alarm at the sound and slipped to his knees in the snow, jarring his elbow painfully on the tree trunk behind him. His gaze flickering around the clearing for the source of the sound, his eyes widened as they found something that should not have been there.

A girl.

She seemed to be a bit younger than him, maybe ten or so, or maybe she was just small for her age. Snow fell lazily down to get caught in her hair, looking like she had adorned her brown waves with jewels. Her green eyes were just as wide as Raistlin's were as she looked around somewhat fearfully at her surroundings.

"Where in the Abyss am I?" the girl thought out loud, gazing up at the trees and drifting snow. She turned on the spot dazedly and jumped back in shock. Her gaze fixed onto the boy kneeling in the snow staring at her with much the same expression as she had.

"Wh-who are you?" the girl demanded.

Raistlin's brows knit together and his lips tightened into a thin line. Here this girl pops out of thin air into his hideout scaring him half to death and she was demanding to know who _he_ was?! Raistlin scrambled hastily to his feet with a stern expression.

"Who am I? You're the one that just appeared out of nowhere! Who are you? What are you doing here?" he demanded angrily. The girl quirked an eyebrow and put a hand to her hip.

"I'm Klea, and I would answer the other question except that I don't know where I am, you tell me!" the girl named Klea snapped peevishly.

"You don't know where you are?" Raistlin asked contemptuously. This girl was crazy, how did she not know where she was and how did she get here in the first place?

Klea was not in the least intimidated by Raistlin's attitude.

"Well, duh! That's why I'm asking you!" she rolled her eyes.

"You're outside of Solace, in the woods near Master Theobald's school," Raistlin answered, though with a significant amount of sass.

"Solace?!" the girl repeated in alarm. "Are you kidding me? This stupid thing took me halfway across the continent?!" Klea exclaimed ripping a silver ring off her finger and fixing it with an affronted glare before slipping it inside a pocket.

"Wait, what?" Raistlin interjected in confusion. "How did you get here?"

"This stupid ring! I just put it on and 'poof!'" the girl threw up her hands in exasperation. "I wound up here in this stupid little clearing, in the freezing cold, in freaking Abanasinia!" Klea shouted as her arms hastily dropped back down to wrap around herself as she shivered.

It was then that Raistlin noticed the girl was dressed simply in a tunic, breeches, and thin shoes. Suddenly feeling weighed down by his own layers of clothing, he glanced down at his outer cloak.

"Here," he grumbled, unclasping his cloak from around his shoulders and holding it out to Klea. "Take my cloak before you freeze to death."

Klea stared suspiciously at the proffered cloak and then up at Raistlin. Raistlin's brows furrowed and he shook the cloak.

"Well? Are you gonna take it?" he demanded, a bit sharper than he had intended. Klea pursed her lips.

"Taking a strange item was what got me here in the first place," she retorted.

"It's not a strange item! It's my cloak!" Raistlin replied in exasperation.

"Well, you've refused to tell me who you are! So you are a stranger, and thus anything you have to offer is a strange item," Klea stated logically. Raistlin rolled his eyes. He had just met this girl and she was already grating on his nerves.

"I'm Raistlin, now, will you please take the stupid cloak?" he snapped. Klea glared at him but snatched up the cloak and tossed it around her shoulders.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"You're welcome," Raistlin sighed. He continued to watch her speculatively as she fumbled with the clasp and then wrapped her hands in the fabric and pulled it tighter about herself. "How did you get here?" he asked curiously.

"I told you, this silver ring," she grumbled, glancing up at him suspiciously. "What kind of school are we near?"

"A school for magic," Raistlin answered unhesitatingly. "Where did you get this silver ring?"

"From a mage. Are you a student at this school?" Klea returned just as quickly.

"I am. How did you get a magic ring from a mage? Did you steal it?"

"No! I didn't steal it!" Klea shouted reproachfully, but with another thought her brow quirked. "Well... I guess _technically_ I did steal it. But not like, just pickpocketing it from a random mage down the street. I know her! I'm actually, well, her student," Klea clarified shamefacedly. Raistlin couldn't hide his shock as his brows shot to his forehead.

"You took a magical artifact from your master?" he asked incredulously.

"I didn't _take_ it per se. I was just looking at it. She had asked me to straighten up the shop- she owns a mageware shop too, and since I'm her best student," Klea said the last rather proudly, "she has me work in there with her, just to help straighten up, like sweeping and stuff. So, she asked me to put these artifacts on display, and I may have, out of curiosity, just been looking at this one ring, and I sort of, accidentally, put it on, and then the next thing I know I'm here!" Klea explained, dodging around certain facts much like a kender would explain "acquiring" something.

"So you're studying magic, too?" Raistlin asked, suddenly intensely curious about this girl. Although she was irritating, she didn't seem like the bumbling boys that were his classmates, simply at the school because their parents didn't know what to do with them. If he believed her account- which he though himself crazy for actually doing so- then she was skilled in her studies, or at least serious enough about them to put in the effort to get better.

"Yeah, up in Palanthas, which is a long way away from here," she sighed.

"I'm surprised they even have schools of magic up in Solamnia," Raistlin admitted.

"Well, it's not something we go about proclaiming to our neighbors, but it's also not like we have angry villagers coming to burn down the school!" Klea chuckled.

"Much the same as here, then," Raistlin said, though he surprised himself a bit at how openly he was talking with this girl who literally just dropped in a few minutes ago.

He didn't continue the conversation after this realization, and Klea didn't seem to have anything else to say either. The two children glanced at each other awkwardly, before seeing the other do the same and quickly looking elsewhere. Klea shifted in the snow, her shoes getting soaked through and her feet beginning to go numb from the cold. She cleared her throat.

"Well, not that this hasn't been interesting, but I'm beginning to lose feeling in my toes, so I'd best be off," Klea announced.

"Oh, um, how are you going to get back?" Raistlin asked.

"Well, this ring got me here, hopefully if I just put it on again it will get me back," Klea said, digging the ring out of her pocket.

"And if it doesn't?" Raistlin pressed.

"Then I guess I'm gonna start walking!" Klea returned with a grin. "It was nice to meet you, Raistlin."

"Nice to meet you, too," Raistlin returned.

"And thanks for the cloak," Klea added as she slipped the ring onto her finger. Her eyes went wide as she realized his cloak was still around her shoulders, but before she could move she vanished with a 'CRACK!'

Raistlin stood in the snow, staring at the empty spot where Klea had disappeared. Her footprints were still sunk into the snow, but even as he watched they began to fill back up with new-fallen powder. The snow was getting thicker now and a gust of wind set Raistlin shivering with the loss of the added layer. Well, he'd probably never see that cloak again!

By the time Raistlin left the clearing to return to class, the snow had filled the marks left by the strange girl as if she had never even been there.

* * *

Spring

Raistlin sat on the fallen tree trunk, bent down over a paper pressed against his knees as he scribbled down letters. He spoke each letter as he wrote it in the language of magic, trying to perfect the pronunciation as well as how to write it. He had learned the correct pronunciation and formation of the letters long ago but he was determined not to ever forget or mess up.

His quill pen punched through the parchment and Raistlin swore. He was still grumbling when a loud 'CRACK!' interrupted him and sent him tumbling off the back side of the tree trunk in alarm. He hit the ground hard and groaned as he heard a faintly familiar voice calling out.

"Raistlin? Are you here?" Klea called out, looking around the small clearing.

Her gaze flitted over the log which was empty, but suddenly turned back to it as she saw white fabric poke out from behind. Klea hastened over to the log and peered over it at the thirteen year-old boy struggling to a sitting position.

"What are you doing down there?" she asked. Raistlin glared up at her.

"I fell," he grumbled, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Why'd you do that?" Klea grinned.

"It's not like I meant to! You scared me half to death!" he snapped.

"Oh, well, I was just returning this," Klea said as she dropped a cloak onto his head.

Raistlin fumed as he struggled out of the cloak as Klea just rambled on.

"I was gonna come straight back with the ring after returning to the shop- it did get me back by the way, the ring- but my mistress came in and so I had to put the ring up. And then I wanted to get it cleaned and dried before returning it to you, because I am not one of those rude people that borrows something and then returns it dirty, no—"

"No, just one of those rude people who drops in unannounced," Raistlin grumbled under his breath as he got to his feet. He was lucky Klea didn't hear him or that would've started an argument; one that Raistlin may not have been able to win.

"So, once I got it cleaned, I had to wait for another moment when my mistress left me alone in the shop, which, let me tell you, was not for a _long_ while! I think she may have suspected I messed with something. Anyway! So when I finally got a chance to use the ring again I did and I came back here- but you weren't here! That happened a few other times before finally- Ta da! Here you are!" Klea finished, spreading her hands out towards Raistlin as if displaying something to a crowd.

"Yes, here I am. I appreciate your returning my cloak, but if you could, please-" Klea didn't let him finish.

"Sorry for how late it is, and you probably don't even need it now, you know, since it's warmer and all," she apologized.

"Yes," Raistlin deadpanned, glaring at her. "I was actually in the middle of something, so if you could- wait, give me that!" Raistlin ordered as Klea picked up his ruined parchment.

"You're writing your letters still? We moved on from writing individual letters a while ago and are on writing certain words, I'm surprised you guys are so behind, these are really good though, way better than mine!" Klea said examining his work.

"We have also moved on from writing each letter individually, but I just wanted to make sure I had each one perfect still," Raistlin snapped, snatching the parchment from Klea's hands. She raised her brows and held her hands up, backing off. She watched him as he smoothed out the parchment and glared at the tear in it. His brows were drawn low over his eyes which seemed to burn with anger and his jaw was clenched firmly.

"Are you okay, Raistlin?" Klea asked gently.

"I'm fine," he snapped back, not even looking at her.

"You don't seem fine," Klea muttered, digging the toe of her shoe into the dirt. Raistlin sighed in exasperation.

"Shouldn't you be leaving?" he remarked angrily.

"Oh no, my teacher won't be coming back for another couple of hours, and there's nothing to do back at the mage ware shop but clean," Klea replied.

"So what were you planning on doing here?" Raistlin asked grimly.

"Well, I don't know, I thought you and I could just, hang out or something..." Klea's voice faded off as she shuffled her feet, only casting brief glances up at him when she thought he wasn't looking.

"Why?" Raistlin asked incredulously. Why in the world would she want to sit here with _him_? They'd met once before and argued practically the entire time.

"No reason, I'm just sick of being alone in the shop is all," she shrugged.

"There is no one else at the shop? No other students or employees?" Raistlin asked.

"Well, it's closed right now, and when it's open it's usually just me, Mistress, and a local boy guarding the door outside. Sometimes I'll talk with the boy, but they're generally pretty thick-headed. Mistress... isn't much better herself," Klea rolled her eyes.

"Master Theobald wouldn't know a goblin from a hobgoblin," Raistlin chuckled darkly.

Klea smiled. Raistlin returned it before even realizing. He quickly dropped his lips into a terse line and clenched his jaw, looking away from the girl. She must've noticed because he heard her give a sardonic chuckle. He could practically _feel_ her eyes roll.

Well, the girl certainly showed no signs of leaving anytime soon, and Raistlin had recess for while still that he didn't really want to spend inside the uncomfortably hot school with Marm. Especially not when someone was willingly spending time with him, even if most of their conversation turned to bickering. Raistlin cleared his throat.

"So, how old are you?" he asked, but sensing her turning the question on himself he hurriedly added: "I'm thirteen."

"Oh? Same," Klea grinned. "Let me guess, winter baby!"

"Actually, summer," Raistlin replied.

"Really?" Klea's brows shot practically into her hairline. "Well, I was off on that one!"

"Now it's my turn I would suppose," he said with a questioning glance to Klea, to which she nodded. He looked at her speculatively, taking note of her coloring, mannerisms, and attitude. He also recalled all the sayings about times of birth and how that influenced one's personality. Raistlin didn't actually believe it, they seemed more local tales than fact. The saying that those born in the summer are more jovial certainly didn't ring true in his case. "Is your birthing day in the spring?"

Klea's mouth gaped as she stared at him. Raistlin assumed he was correct.

"How did you guess?" Klea questioned.

"Well, people say that those born in the spring are usually energetic but also quick-witted, among other things, and these seemed to apply to you better than say, patient and careful," Raistlin explained with a slight smirk.

Klea glared at him but her slight grin took any sting out of it. Now that Raistlin noticed it, her grin was crooked, like Kitiara's.

"My sister grins like that," he commented, not really thinking.

"Like what? You have a sister?" Klea prodded.

"Crooked, where one side smiles bigger than the other, though hers is a bit sinister sometimes," he remarked. "Kitiara, she's my older half-sister."

"Do you get along?" Klea asked, focusing on the 'sinister' comment. Raistlin shrugged.

"She takes care of us, my brother and I. But she's not very caring," he explained, quirking his head, feeling he wasn't making any sense. Klea seemed to understand as she nodded knowingly.

"So, brother?" she asked slyly. Raistlin wondered if this girl performed some kind of spell that just made him reveal everything. To him there seemed no other explanation; conversation just didn't come naturally to Raistlin, especially not with girls!

"Yes, I have a twin brother, Caramon," he seemed compelled to answer, even as he swore for revealing so much to a stranger.

"Ooh! Twins! That sounds great. I have an older brother, but he's a lot older so it's not really the same. I sometimes wish I had someone closer to my age," Klea shared, settling down on the ground, leaning her back against the tree trunk.

"He feels the need for us to be constantly together, but we're very different, so it can be… aggravating at times," Raistlin remarked as he sat down next to the girl. His brows furrowed as he thought of his twin. Strong, jovial, thick-headed; Caramon was everyone's favorite. As opposed to Raistlin: the Sly One.

"I can see that," Klea nodded. "Do you guys look alike?"

"Not in the slightest," Raistlin answered quickly, though that wasn't necessarily true. They had some similar features, but they were nowhere near identical.

"Hmm, so you guys are sort of like opposites? That'd be cool to see," Klea smiled to herself.

Raistlin's face grew hot as he imagined she was picturing the opposite of himself. Instead of thin and weakly, she pictured a strong and healthy boy, with an open, honest face; a handsome version of Raistlin. He suddenly wished that Klea would never meet Caramon.

"When do you have to get back to class?" Klea asked, pulling Raistlin from his jealous thoughts.

Glancing hastily to the sky, trying to determine the position of the sun, Raistlin scrambled to his feet.

"I'm guessing now," Klea grinned.

He hurriedly gathered up all his things: his quill pen, book, and sheaves of parchment. Grabbing his practice letters, noting the tear in the parchment and the miniscule mistakes in a few letters, Raistlin snarled and crumpled it, letting it fall to the ground. Klea picked it up as she also rose to her feet.

"Well, since you're leaving, I guess I'll be off too," Klea said. "Although, I still have some time. I could hop on over to town, maybe try to find your family," she commented to herself, the last spoken well under her breath but Raistlin heard and his cheeks burned.

"I apologize for rushing off," Raistlin grumbled having gathered all his things. He turned to bid goodbye to Klea and found her looking at him with genuine friendliness in her slight smile. "It was nice speaking with you," he said, actually meaning it.

"You too," Klea grinned. "Well, good luck with class!"

"Yes, you as well," Raistlin's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly. "Goodbye," he said hastily and turned to rush off to the school, leaving Klea standing in the clearing staring at her shoes.

Raistlin barely made it back in time and was the last student to enter the classroom. Theobald glared at him as if he was holding everyone up. The other students pointedly ignored him, looking forward as if seeing straight through him.

Raistlin didn't notice any of it.


	2. An Unexpected Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caramon tries to convince his brother towards more *ahem* romantic pursuits not realizing that Raistlin's attentions are stuck on a certain girl who's been mysteriously absent. Just when Raistlin thinks he's found someone who understands him she up and abandons him... or so he thought.

  14th Summer 

The summer that Raistlin turned fourteen was unusually hot. While Raistlin found the weather near intolerable and only conducive to staying indoors and pursuing less rigorous activities like reading, everyone else in town seemed to have been sparked by the heat. Caramon was gone practically all day and well into the night and Raistlin didn't need his brother's grinning hints to know what he was doing. That would've been bad enough, but Caramon even tried to pull Raistlin out of the house every now and then to be ambushed by a group of giggling girls. Raistlin's snide dismissal of the girls confounded his brother.

"You know Raist, maybe if you talked to some of 'em you could have some fun for once," Caramon grinned elbowing his brother in the ribs. Raistlin grimaced as he could practically feel his ribs bruising.

Caramon waved to the girls carrying laundry baskets as the boys passed towards the stairs. Raistlin rolled his eyes. Caramon paused at his brother's response and pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"If you're worried about talking to a girl, I can help! It's really not that scary if the girl's into you," he offered helpfully.

"Thank you, my brother, but I think I can quite manage!" Raistlin scoffed unappreciatively, insulted by the implication, true as it may be. Just the thought of talking to one of the pretty, blushing, giggling girls made Raistlin's stomach twist and turn so that he swore he must've swallowed some kind of live creature that was now wriggling around in his insides. Despite how ridiculous he thought the entire thing was, Raistlin's body seemed determined to undermine him, making his palms sweat and stomach twist and tongue grow heavy so that he couldn't make any sense around girls. All the more reason he resented the idea—the fears and desires of the flesh overwhelming all reason—and so he scoffed at the notion because the alternative was to lose himself like the other fools.

"Well, I mean if you haven't talked to one before—" Caramon began but Raistlin was quick to interject.

"You know, I have actually spoken to girls before," he rolled his eyes. Well, one girl in particular, but she was so unlike these creatures of fluttering lashes that Raistlin began to suspect Klea was another creature entirely. At least she didn't make him feel all out of sorts, rather he was comfortable with her if he could be comfortable with anyone.

"Who? Kit and Weird Meggin don't count!" Caramon teased.

"I wasn't referring to either of them," Raistlin scorned.

"Well, then who have you been talking to?" Caramon pried.

Raistlin pulled up his cowl partly to protect from Carmon's prying questions but partly to shield his eyes from the glare of the setting sun as they ascended the steps. Realizing that Raistlin wasn't going to answer him, Caramon took to detailing his own interactions with members of the opposite sex, much to Raistlin's disgust. Raistlin began to regret his decision to pull the cowl up as he felt he was baking inside it, but the hood provided such an excellent barrier from Caramon's conversation that Raistlin wasn't yet ready to pull it down and have to engage with his brother's raunchy tales.

Thinking of Klea reminded Raistlin that she had not visited all summer. Perhaps she was busy, or never got a chance alone in the shop, or the ring was sold. Raistlin involuntarily shivered at that thought. The mere idea of losing the only person that had come anywhere close to being his friend was just unnerving. Of course, Raistlin thought bitterly, she may not even consider him a friend and is simply choosing not to return.

"Raist? You listening?" Caramon interrupted Raistlin's thoughts.

"What? No!" Raistlin snapped. At the hurt look on his brother's face, Raistlin quickly tried to amend his rash reaction. "I am sorry, my brother. I was deep in thought," he explained gently.

"Oh, okay. Well, anyway I was saying that Sturm met someone from Solamnia the other day," Caramon related to his brother.

"A Solamnic? Travelling all the way down here?" Raistlin asked.

"Yeah, she was real pretty too. I didn't get to talk to her though," Caramon sighed.

"Do not worry, my brother. I am certain that you will find someone to distract you from this tragedy," Raistlin sneered.

Caramon seemed wont to further discuss this girl, but Raistlin was spared the mooning as they finally reached their house. Voices could be heard from the windows, female voices. Caramon walked right on in, but Raistlin hesitated at the threshold of his own home. But was it really his home? He lived here, but no one in the house understood him. He felt much more safe and comfortable in his clearing by the school. There he could be himself without anyone questioning or being openly hostile—something that couldn't be said for this house now that the Widow Judith had practically become a part of the family.

"Raist?" Caramon called from within the house.

"Yes, my brother, I'm coming," Raistlin sighed and entered into the house, carefully shutting the door behind him.

Rosamun sat in her rocking chair, but not in one of her dazes. She was actively speaking and laughing with the other woman sitting across from her: the Widow Judith. Rosamun smiled at Raistlin when he entered, but the grin faltered after she glanced over at Judith, who didn't even acknowledge Raistlin's presence beyond drawing her lips into a terse line.

Caramon greeted the Widow Judith much like he greeted their mother. Raistlin reciprocated Judith's disregard, leaning over to kiss his mother on the cheek and completely bypassing the other woman. He and the widow had an understanding: they both disliked the other and neither had any incentive to try to change that. Caramon settled in to join the conversation with his mother and Judith, while Raistlin, not belonging to this new family dynamic, retreated to his room.

* * *

  14th Autumn 

Raistlin paused just at the last line of trees before the clearing. The leaves had barely started turning, changing the canopy into a bright array of green and gold. The golden leaves seemed to turn the sunlight gold as well, as if drawing a thin warm veil across the scene. The tree trunk lay where it always had, with a fresh growing of moss on its northward facing side.

It was just as it always was. Yet it was different.

It had been changed ever since that silly girl popped into it last winter. The clearing was no longer Raistlin's place of solitude. It was certainly still his place of comfort, his escape from the others who ignored him, or teased him, or just simply didn't understand him. But Klea had changed it. She turned the spot into one where he didn't have to be alone to feel safe and free. She had turned it into the one place where Raistlin didn't want to be alone.

Hence the pause at the trees.

Raistlin had a sinking feeling that the clearing had been irreversibly changed and could never go back to how it was. Which was the only option left if he continued coming here. Because Klea wouldn't be there, and that would just make the solitude lonely.

She hadn't visited all summer and Raistlin took that to mean that the visits were over. Whether she could no longer get there, or the novelty of travelling across the continent to sit with a cynical boy had worn off Raistlin knew she wouldn't be back. And now he wasn't sure if he could enter what was once his solace.

Raistlin turned to head back to the school when he nearly jumped out of his skin.

CRACK!

"Made you flinch!" that familiar, annoying, teasing voice sang out.

Raistlin rolled his eyes and scoffed, ignoring the fluttering of his stomach at the familiar voice. He took a deep breath before spinning around, shooting a glare towards Klea.

"Well, when your arrival is preceded by the snapping of a whip, it is understandable that I would be startled by it!" he snapped. "Especially when it was the last thing I expected," he muttered under his breath, fighting the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Klea had heard the comment though and took the offensive.

"The last thing _you_ expected?! The last thing I expected was for you to actually be here! Although it looks like you were just escaping before I could arrive!" Klea accused.

Raistlin was taken aback.

"What? What are you talking about? You haven't visited all summer!" Raistlin retorted.

"Ugh! I came practically every week during the summer! You were the one that wasn't here! After about the fourth time I figured out that you were avoiding me!" Klea snapped.

Raistlin deadpanned. He dropped his head into his hands and began to laugh, his shoulders shaking. Klea raised a brow, bemused.

"Uh, Raistlin? You okay?" she hesitated.

Raistlin lifted his face from his hands, a sardonic smile spread across his face as he chuckled. He walked into the clearing, just a few steps away from her.

"You're telling me that you came here," Raistlin pointed to the ground. "All summer?"

"Yeah!" Klea spat. Raistlin couldn't contain his mirth. "What in the Abyss is wrong with you?"

"I don't have school in the summer! So I'm not here," he explained.

Klea's jaw dropped. She quickly snapped it shut, though, and fixed Raistlin with a glare, putting her hands on her hips.

"You get the summer off?! That's so not fair! I have schooling year-round!" she complained.

"I would almost rather that to wasting the days away having to listen to my brother go on about girls all the time," Raistlin chuckled.

"You only say that because you get the time to waste!" Klea retorted.

"Fair point," Raistlin conceded, settling down on the ground and leaning his back against the fallen tree. Klea sat down next to him cross-legged and sighed before grinning ruefully.

"Well, that was a major miscommunication there," she laughed.

"Yes," Raistlin agreed.

"I was so mad at you, thinking you were avoiding me," Klea said.

"Same," Raistlin admitted grimly.

"Mainly because I had thought we were… well, friends," Klea shrugged. "I don't get a lot of those, so I guess I kind of figured this would turn out the same."

Raistlin studied Klea's face. Her brow furrowed slightly and the slight purse of her lips made a small dimple in her cheek. Raistlin recognized the look of one thinking of less than successful attempts.

"I understand," Raistlin said gently. "And… I consider you my friend."

"Really?" Klea raised her brow skeptically, though a slight smile tugged at the side of her mouth. "You don't find me annoying?"

"Oh, you're terribly annoying," Raistlin stated before grinning and continuing. "But not in the way that others are. Others are ignorant, superstitious, and juvenile. They don't understand us at all," Raistlin declared.

Klea noticed that he included her in that. That he thought she understood him, that they were the same, at least in some aspects. It was reassuring, as she had been feeling much the same way. Klea suddenly punched Raistlin in the shoulder, not hard, but he wasn't expecting it.

"What was that for?" Raistlin demanded.

"Things were getting a bit too sentimental," Klea grinned.

"Never mind, I don't understand you either," he chuckled, causing Klea to bump her shoulder into his.

"So, how did you waste your _entire summer_ of _no school_?" Klea asked, stressing how ridiculous she thought his complaining was. Raistlin smirked.

"Studying mostly. There's this woman in town that is a sort of healer, and she teaches me about plants, and medicines, and the like. My brother meanwhile ran around with probably every girl in town, and attempted to tell me all the details," Raistlin grimaced.

"Ooh, fun," Klea grinned sarcastically.

"Quite," Raistlin sneered. "The worst would be when he would try to set me up, usually by having some girls corner us."

"Bet the ladies are all over you," Klea teased. Raistlin glared at her. "So, your family, I've heard all about your brother, but that's it. You don't really talk about your parents," Klea prodded.

"My father is usually off working. My mother… well, she used to go into these… trances," Raistlin explained grimly, the memories still sore.

"Magical talent ignored and left to fester," Klea shook her head knowingly. "The same happened to my aunt, that's why when I started displaying the same inclinations my parents immediately stuck me in school. They didn't want to watch their daughter go through that."

"Yes," Raistlin breathed. "It was as if she was in another world, seeing and hearing other things, not us," Raistlin's face darkened. "But she has been much better since the Widow Judith arrived."

"Who?" Klea asked.

"A woman that arrived in town a year ago. She's a widow that's also a follower of some new religion, who started spending time with my mother. I assume as a sort of charity case, though my brother and father insist she's just trying to help. She's kind with them and my mother, but she is suspicious of me as a magic-user," Raistlin explained.

"Ugh! One of _those_! They're so annoying and self-righteous, there's a ton of them up in Solamnia," Klea exclaimed.

"I can imagine," Raistlin said, thinking of Sturm and his distaste for magic.

"I mean, my family is sympathetic just because of the history, but they're still wary of it. I never get to talk about it at home. The first time I did my father practically ran out of the room while my mother just froze, looking like a ghost. Luckily my brother wasn't there or he probably would've yelled at me," Klea chuckled ruefully.

"He's a lot worse about that stuff. He wanted to be a knight, but he quit when he was still a squire because the arrogant ass wouldn't "debase himself for old cowards" he said," Klea scoffed. "Now he's a mercenary, always out looking for some fight to get into."

"My half-sister is much the same. Seeking wealth and power through the use of her sword no matter the job," Raistlin shared. "At least, I assume she's selling her sword. Or her body, that's a possibility as well. Most likely both."

"And I thought my family was bad," Klea laughed. "Your sister would probably get along with my brother."

"Either that or they'd kill each other."

"That goes without saying," Klea smirked.

The conversation wandered off into other subjects: anything from comparing curriculums to telling jokes—the latter was mostly Klea telling Raistlin jokes, though he did recall a few he had overheard in the Inn of the Last Home. The sun began to pass its midpoint signaling that Raistlin's recess was ending. Klea hopped up onto her feet as Raistlin used the tree trunk to help him get to his feet.

"So same time next week? We should also probably figure out a summer plan, because I got really bored without anyone to talk to," Klea announced.

"Yes," Raistlin agreed. "I believe we should investigate the ring a bit more to figure out exactly how it works," he added.

"Oh, I think I know how it works! I just think of the place, picture it in my mind, and I wind up there," Klea said.

"How did you figure that out?" Raistlin asked.

"Well, one time, when I was trying to come here, I got a bit distracted by the smell of a baker's ware and thought about this bakery back in my home town and the next thing I knew I was standing right in the middle of it!" Klea explained.

"Well then, why don't you just think about Solace?" Raistlin asked.

"I don't know what it looks like! I have to be able to picture it," Klea pointed out.

"Then how did you get here the first time? You'd never seen this place."

Klea simply shrugged in answer. Raistlin furrowed his brow. This explanation of the workings of the ring seemed to make sense, but it also led to more questions. Raistlin was still considering this when Klea threw her arms around him.

Raistlin stiffened, his brow furrowed in uncomfortable confusion. He glanced around as she squeezed him in a friendly embrace, but she didn't release him. Raistlin cleared his throat. He really disliked being touched, and hugs were just out of the question.

"Klea?" Raistlin began.

"I'm not letting go until you hug me back," Klea retorted sharply.

Raistlin rolled his eyes and glanced around as if seeking help, but there was none. After another second of hoping she would give up, Raistlin realized that she wasn't going to. If he knew anything for certain about her, it was that she was the most stubborn and persistent person he had ever met. His only escape from this would be to just get it over with.

He tentatively raised his arms and awkwardly patted Klea's back quickly. Her arms loosened and Raistlin hurriedly stepped out of her reach. Klea fixed him with a smirk and a glare before she disappeared with her usual resounding 'CRACK!' The message was clear.

This wasn't over.


	3. Mistaken Attention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raistlin takes Klea to see Solace but they run into his brother along the way whose interest in Klea isn't entirely welcome. But Caramon's flirting isn't the biggest issue they run into...

14 th Spring

Thin fingers toyed with a mirror; standing it vertical on the table, rotating it slowly. Klea gazed outwards, not really seeing anything, disinterestedly spinning the mirror with one hand. Her other hand had the job of propping up her head, her fingers forcing up a bit of her cheek so that one side looked considerably chunkier than the other. Her lids began to droop, until she caught sight of something fascinating: finally!

The guard outside the shop screwed up his face as a beam of light struck his face. The light hastened away though, directed by the mirror Klea was playing with. Now this was something that could occupy her time!

Klea straightened up, a mischievous grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. Bending low over the counter, Klea positioned the mirror so that it was closer to the rays of sunlight coming through the windows. Tilting the mirror out towards the door, a flash of light lit up a spot on the wall of the shop across the street. The guard didn't notice. Klea pursed her lips and directed the light into the guard's face.

The teenage boy blinked hastily as the glare struck him full in the eye. Blinking rapidly he searched for the source of the light, but by that time, Klea had redirected the light to the building across the street. Noticing it, the boy glanced up and down the street surreptitiously, Klea guessed to see if anyone else noticed it. There weren't many people at this end of the street to notice such a thing. The guard crossed over to the street, turning to try to find the source of the reflection.

Klea ducked down behind the counter quickly when the guard's glance passed over the shop. She hesitantly peeked her head up over the counter to see the guard looking up at the roofs of the buildings, apparently thinking there to be something metal up there to be causing it. Klea smirked as the boy looked at the light from every angle, as if he could figure out the angle from which it was cast.

"Klea!" a sharp voice intoned.

Klea jumped and let the mirror fall flat to the counter. The light disappeared, sending the guard into even more confusion. Turning around, Klea found her mistress standing in the doorway in the back, which led to her study. The black-robed wizardess glared at Klea sternly.

"I would expect you to be mature enough not to play with magical artifacts," the wizardess snapped.

Klea grabbed up the mirror, ducking her head meekly.

"Apologies, Mistress Evelyn," Klea replied. "I'll go put it away."

Klea matched her actions to her words and hastily stepped over to the shelves on the left. She placed it upon a stand on a low shelf containing other baubles like bracelets or paper weights; seemingly harmless objects that were in fact magical items, though not of particularly dangerous or powerful quality, hence why they were on a lower shelf. The more powerful and thus valuable artifacts were locked within cases at the back of the shop.

"I have to go meet with a young family to discuss their child's entrance to my school," Mistress Evelyn said tersely as she placed a cloak around her shoulders. "I expect I should be gone until well into the afternoon, possibly not before evening. There are some new objects that need to be set out, I left a list of where they should go on my desk. I trust you can manage the shop until I return."

Klea kept her face hidden from her mistress as she tried to suppress a smirk. Sure, Mistress Evelyn had to go "speak with a prospective family." She couldn't _possibly_ be going to meet her lover for their increasingly regular afternoon delight. Honestly, she wondered how her mistress had survived so long while being so terrible at hiding things.

"Of course, Mistress," Klea said meekly, taking care not to let any hint of sarcasm into her voice.

As it was, Mistress Evelyn peered at her suspiciously, but she apparently thought better of it and left the shop. As Mistress Evelyn locked the door, Klea retreated back behind the counter and into her mistress's study.

Klea shook her head at the disorganized room. How her mistress ever found anything was a mystery to the girl. She had to shuffle through at least a dozen papers before finding the list her mistress had referred to. Bringing it out into the shop, Klea placed it on the counter before retrieving the boxes from the back room. There were only about a dozen artifacts, only one of which powerful enough to warrant being locked in the back, so Klea finished her work easily enough.

With a sly grin, Klea unlocked the box that held several magical rings within. These were quite powerful, one being able to dampen the effects of magical spells on the wearer, but there was only one that Klea was interested in. Plucking out the silver ring, Klea closed and locked the box. With a glance out to the guard who was still outside just in case anyone tried to break in, Klea slipped behind the counter, grabbing her pack from underneath, and into her mistress's study.

The window was open where the delicious scents of a baker's wares drifted in. Klea breathed the aroma in deeply before shutting the window. She then moved to the largest area of cleared space as she had noticed that when she used the ring it tended to disturb things around her like a gust of wind. Here she closed her eyes and slipped on the ring.

"Alright! Are you ready to take me into town?" Klea announced her arrival after a quick swipe of her sleeve across her mouth.

Raistlin was pacing in front of the tree trunk, and jumped slightly at her arrival. He spun around, having to check a sigh as he fixed her with a stern glare. Klea grinned at the way his jaw twitched when he was irritated.

"You were supposed to be here before the sun reached its zenith," Raistlin snapped.

"My mistress decided to delay her departure, it's not my fault! And that was a tentative time frame, it's still more or less at its peak," she shrugged.

Raistlin rolled his eyes and scoffed but didn't pursue the argument.

"Whatever, let's just go!" he said as he turned from her.

Klea skipped up to his side as he led them into the woods.

"So how big exactly are these vallenwoods? I mean they have to be considerably large for people to build houses up in them, but I mean, are they big houses or more like one or two-room homes? And have their leaves come back yet? I'd hate my first sight of Solace to be of barren trees! And what about—"

"Would you please shut up," Raistlin interrupted petulantly. Klea raised her brows.

"Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bark," she retorted.

"I had a difficult time of escaping my brother. He insisted on coming with me," Raistlin grumbled.

"Well, why didn't you bring him?" Klea asked, although she figured she already knew the answer.

Although Raistlin did have affection towards his brother, he clearly felt smothered by his brother's protectiveness, made all the more sour by a sense of jealousy. Klea had noticed the bitterness in his voice whenever he spoke of his brother's strength or geniality. He especially tried to seem irritated by his brother's obsession with girls, but she recognized that Raistlin was more upset that his brother had more appeal to girls.

Raistlin scoffed at the question and didn't bother to answer.

"I won't be, like, ambushed and held under suspicion for being new, will I?" Klea changed the subject.

"Of course not! Solace is a crossroads town, strangers are constantly passing through. You may be ambushed by boys enslaved by their raging hormones though," Raistlin grimaced.

"I doubt that," Klea laughed. Raistlin didn't.

After they had been walking a while, Raistlin began to grow short of breath. Klea unconsciously slowed her steps so as not to outpace him. After a particularly wheezing gasp of air from the boy, Klea let out a heavy breath and stopped. Raistlin paused and glanced back at her questioningly.

"Sorry, just gotta catch my breath real quick," she sighed breathlessly. Raistlin narrowed his eyes at her as she sat down on the ground and opened up her pack. Klea removed a water skin from her pack and held it out to Raistlin. "Thirsty?"

She could tell he knew she was faking being tired, but after assessing his own level of exhaustion, he took the water skin from her and sat down too. Klea tried to hide her grin. After taking a sip, Raistlin passed the water skin back to her. Klea took a long swig of it before offering it once more to Raistlin, and at his refusal, plugged it and returned it to her pack.

Klea let out a few heavy breaths, keeping an ear out for the slowing of Raistlin's breathing in the meanwhile. Sweat beaded on Raistlin's brow from the exertion and his face was flushed. From the draw of his brows, Klea knew Raistlin was scolding his weakness. She really thought he got too defensive about it. He was sickly as a child, it's not like he could help it now! It was more irritating that he would willfully refuse to admit his weakness and thus get worse than if he just said he was tired when he was.

When Raistlin's breathing returned to normal and the redness left his cheeks, Klea hopped to her feet.

"Alright! I'm good now! Let's be off," Klea announced.

Raistlin got to his feet less gracefully but was more energized to continue the trek. Klea related the tale of her messing with the guard at the shop, to which Raistlin actually chuckled. They left the woods behind and traveled near a farm. Raistlin seemed to hasten the pace just as a cart came into view in the fields.

"Hey, why don't we ask the farmer for a ride to town?" Klea suggested.

"No, it's not much farther, we can manage on our own," Raistlin muttered quickly.

The cart came closer and was clearly travelling the same direction as them. It was going to outpace them, getting to town much quicker than they could on foot. Klea figured Raistlin just didn't want to take "charity" from someone, but her feet were kinda sore. Klea stepped out as the cart came within shouting distance.

She realized that it wasn't the farmer driving it, he was much too young, closer to her age though he seemed very tall and muscular. It must be the farmer's son driving it then. Figuring this was even better as a kid probably wouldn't ask as many questions about where she was from, Klea waved her arm.

"No! What are you doing?" Raistlin whispered frantically, trying to pull her arm back down. But the farmer's son had seen her and so slowed his cart to a stop beside them. Raistlin cursed and groaned, and Klea cast him a scathing glance.

"Raist?" the boy called out, looking down at them. "Raist, what are you doing out here? I thought you were just going into town today?"

Klea glanced over to Raistlin who had given up trying to hide himself behind her and rolled his eyes.

"I had forgotten some books at school that I need for my studies over the weekend," Raistlin snapped.

"Well, why didn't you have me give you a ride over? That's too long a walk for you to take by yourself, and for just a bunch of books," the boy worried.

He had an open, honest face with a perpetual grin. His skin was beginning to tan from working in the sun and his brown hair curled about his face and shoulders, sticking to his skin in some places from sweat. He was quite attractive, but Klea figured she was not the only girl to think so and thus assumed this to be one of the boys Raistlin had warned about.

"Did you ever think maybe I wanted to travel alone, Caramon?" Raistlin replied peevishly.

Caramon. Hey, wasn't that the name of his twin brother? Looking back at him, Klea's eyes widened. They really were almost complete opposites! Although, after the realization, she did notice they shared certain facial features, though Raistlin's were a bit softer than his brother's. Looking back to Raistlin, Klea noted his jawline, pale blue eyes, and soft auburn hair and briefly considered that he might be more handsome than his brother if it wasn't for the marks of his childhood sickness that had left his cheeks wan. Of course, she didn't think Raistlin was unattractive, the two were just very different, in appearance and the general air about each boy.

"Well, no. I'm sorry, Raist," Caramon answered glumly, with a hangdog air.

Klea suddenly understood the sibling dynamic.

Caramon finally noticed her and seemed taken aback. He shook his head slightly as he looked from her to his brother, and then back to her.

"Hey, I've seen you around before. You traveled through Solace last summer! You're from Solamnia right?" Caramon grinned.

Now it was Klea's turn to be taken aback. How did he know her? There had been one time during the summer that she had ventured out of the woods and ran into a few people outside a town—could that have been Solace? She hadn't seen any signs of a town apart from the people. Although, now she remembered that Solace was a tree-town, she wouldn't have seen it being tucked up in the branches. Even still, she had spoken to maybe three people, none of which were Caramon, she would've remembered that.

"I'm Klea—"

"I ran into her on the road back to town," Raistlin interrupted with a cool lie. "She was coming from Haven where her family has been staying seeking some rather rare items. Surprisingly, items made in Abanasinia fetch a high price in Solamnia as they are seen as exotic."

"Yes, but the inns in Haven are awful and my father just couldn't go another day without some decent ale and so sent me back to Solace for some of Otik's. My brother was going to go initially but he got into a fight last night, so I drew the short stick," Klea played along with the lie smoothly, though she made a mental note to ask Raistlin about it later.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, I'm Caramon. Raist's twin brother. Let me give you guys a ride back to town, I'm heading that way already," Caramon offered.

"Sure, thank you," Klea accepted much to Raistlin's chagrin.

Caramon hopped down from the cart to give Klea a hand up. Klea tried to ignore how he took her in from head to toe. Raistlin rolled his eyes and scoffed, shooing off his brother's attempts to help him up. Raistlin clambered up and sat next to her, saving her from being seated next to his brother. Klea cast him a quick smile before Caramon hopped up as well and took up the reins.

"So, how did you know I was from Solamnia?" Klea asked, the question itching at her.

"You do have an accent," Raistlin retorted softly so that only she could hear.

"Shut up," she whispered back, grinning.

"Oh, well I saw you briefly when you were near town during the summer. I didn't actually get to talk to you, but you spoke with my friend Sturm who told me about you. He's from Solamnia too," Caramon explained, his cheeks reddening faintly.

"Oh! Yes, I remember him! He was very kind," Klea grinned, recalling the handsome boy. Now _that_ boy had the look of a knight.

Raistlin scoffed. Klea glanced over to see if his brother had done something to warrant it, but Caramon was simply looking ahead, holding the reins. As she looked over though, Caramon glanced over at her, but upon her catching him, he blushed and quickly averted his eyes. Caramon cleared his throat.

"So, uh, Klea," he began. "Are you from a noble family up in Solamnia?" he asked, though it sounded like he was trying to lead toward something.

"Oh um, well, sort of," Klea replied, looking out over the fields, ignoring Raistlin's quizzical gaze. "I mean, my family used to be more prominent, uh, like before the Cataclysm. But then the people turned against them, because my ancestors were knights, and they, uh, burned down the family keep. So there were some rough times for a while when the family was basically no better than paupers, but the boys kept being sent to become knights and eventually my great great grandfather came back and was elected lord of the region. But my aunt, well, something happened with her and my mom protected her so their parents kind of disowned them. I mean, we're still well off, but my family's not exactly, _prestigious_ ," Klea explained haltingly.

"Oh, so you're not set up to marry some wealthy lord or whatnot?" Caramon tried to ask casually but his message was clear: was she available.

"No, nothing like that," Klea answered, avoiding his glance.

Raistlin sucked in a breath and his arm pressed against hers as discreet comforting. He understood her vague description of how her family lost prestige, though he had not known the depth of her family history or status.

"Well, that's good!" Caramon smiled. Upon realizing what he said, he looked horrified and quickly glanced over to her to amend it. "I mean, uh, that way you can choose for yourself," Caramon offered hesitatingly.

Klea smirked while Raistlin shook his head.

Caramon didn't get any smoother the rest of the trip making Klea seriously question Raistlin's claims of his brother being popular with the girls. Unless they liked him because he was so adorably awkward. Somehow, she didn't think that was it though.

Caramon pulled on the reins to halt the cart and quickly hopped down. He put out a hand to help his brother down, but Raistlin glared at him and ignored it. Raistlin hopped down from the cart, jarring his ankle upon landing. The drop had been larger than he had expected, but he doubted he had done anything serious to his ankle.

Caramon watched as his brother hopped down, his face softening at his brother's grimace upon landing hard. Once Raistlin was down though, Caramon turned his attention to the girl. Grinning, he offered up his hand. Klea kindly took it and let Caramon help her down. Raistlin turned away, scowling and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Thank you for the ride," Klea said.

"Oh, don't mention it," Caramon grinned sheepishly.

Klea smiled and walked over to Raistlin. Nudging him playfully she recaptured his attention. Raistlin was momentarily startled from his jealous musings and turned to her as if in surprise.

"So, you gonna take me into town?" she asked him.

"Oh, of course," Raistlin replied. "Thank you, my brother, I will see you tonight," he called back over his shoulder, not bothering to turn to look back at Caramon.

Caramon hastened after him and pulled him back though. Raistlin cast his brother with a withering glare, causing Caramon to remove his hand from Raistlin's arm, but he didn't move back.

"What's the deal with her?" Caramon asked in a hushed tone, nodding over to Klea.

"What do you mean my brother?" Raistlin sighed in exasperation.

"Well, it doesn't really make sense that her parents would send her alone, on foot all the way here from Haven just for some of Otik's ale, especially when she's not from here. I think she's lying about why she's here. Plus," Caramon paused, glancing at Raistlin, but then didn't continue.

"Caramon, I am no mind reader, you must speak your thoughts for me to be in on them," Raistlin snapped. To be honest he was a little unnerved that his brother had picked up on their lie so easily. A little proud too, maybe Caramon wasn't as gullible as he gave him credit for. But on second thought, the story he had given of Klea's journey did appear quite illogical, apparently enough so that even his brother saw through it.

"Plus, you two seem to be pretty friendly," Caramon raised a brow, watching his brother intently.

Raistlin was silent. He had tried to act more formally with her, but there were little things between the two that showed familiarity. For instance, when she had nudged him he hadn't shied away from her touch. He had also sat next to her, when he typically wouldn't choose to sit next to a stranger. Maybe Raistlin wasn't as good at play-faking as he thought.

"Do you like her, Raist?" Caramon asked suddenly.

Raistlin's eyes widened and he stared at his brother incredulously. What a ridiculous question! He might seem familiar with the girl, but just because he wasn't repulsed by her touch didn't mean he was lusting after her.

"Of course not! I didn't think you were _that_ thick-skulled my brother," Raistlin scoffed.

"Oh well, I think _I_ do," Caramon replied, gazing after Klea who had turned to tap her foot impatiently, pointedly staring at Raistlin. "She's really pretty. But for some reason, she makes me nervous, like I don't know what to say. That's never happened to me before."

"She's not like the girls you're used to my brother," Raistlin smirked.

"I know that," Caramon agreed with a grin.

"What about your suspicions, my brother?" Raistlin scorned.

"If I get to know her better she'll probably tell me the truth," he replied, shrugging.

Raistlin shook his head and left his brother. Caramon climbed back onto the cart and waved after his brother and the girl. Klea waved back, Raistlin didn't even turn to see the wave.

Klea raised a brow at Raistlin's grim expression as he joined her.

"What's with you?" she asked bluntly.

"My brother is impossible," Raistlin spat. "He likes you, by the way," he added as an afterthought, though he boiled at the very thought. Here his brother was trying to take another thing from him.

" _No_!" Klea exclaimed with heavy sarcasm. Raistlin smirked.

It wasn't a far walk from where Caramon dropped them off to a point where they could see the looming vallenwoods. Klea was in awe of the beautiful, giant trees whose leaves were new and green. Although they couldn't yet see the houses or bridges in the trees, they knew they were there, though still an imaginary image to Klea.

"Okay, this area kind of looks familiar," she remarked, looking around at the more normal trees at the edge of town.

It wasn't until the buildings in the trees became visible that Klea realized just how enormous the vallenwoods were. She was dwarfed by the trunk, which seemed about thirty feet in diameter. Crossing underneath the great boughs, she had to practically dislocate her neck to see the bottoms of the lowest branches. Raistlin watched her curiously as she stared around in open-mouthed wonder as people hastened across the bridges spanning between the trees.

"You've lived here all your life?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," Raistlin answered.

"I'm sorry," she replied gently. Raistlin raised a brow and scrutinized her. "Because the wonder of this place is not special to you," she explained with a hint of sorrow.

Raistlin hadn't ever really considered that before. He had to admit that Solace did have a kind of charm and beauty, but as he had grown up here, the giant vallenwoods were just normal. Living in the trees was ordinary. As she said, nothing about Solace was special to him.

Yet, he felt he could appreciate how special it all seemed to her. Her bright eyes were lit with an unfettered admiration and excitement. They darted about at every movement, every sound. The sunlight would catch them as they glanced upward, somehow setting her green eyes afire with golden flames. Her face was flushed and mouth slightly parted as she gazed eagerly at everything, as if trying to taste the very air of the town. She turned her burning gaze to Raistlin who paused momentarily.

"Yes… I'm sorry, too," he muttered. Raistlin cleared his throat. "So, would you like to go up?" he asked her, gesturing to a set of stairs leading high up into the trees.

Klea didn't even respond beyond a huge smile and a race to the staircase.

Raistlin shook his head as he followed after her. Klea hardly waited for him and bolted up the stairs as soon as he reached the railing. She waited at the top of the stairs, but Raistlin couldn't be sure if she was waiting for him, or if she had just been struck motionless by the view from the walkways. He guessed the latter as she was staring in open-mouthed amazement at the houses built amongst the boughs, the leaves hanging not too far overhead, and the people traveling across the walkways between trees. She started when he came up beside her as if she had been lost in her own world.

Raistlin automatically turned their steps towards the Inn of the Last Home. If there was one place someone should go to upon their first visit to Solace, it was the inn. As he watched Klea's expressions to everything around her, he realized he wanted to see her reaction to the inn—it's stained glass windows catching the light and sending it dancing, the wooden bar that was part of the tree itself, the smell of Otik's spiced potatoes. Raistlin glanced to Klea, wondering that her awe at his hometown was granting him an appreciation of Solace's beauty.

"What are you grinning at me like that for?" Klea asked with a quirked brow.

"I was doing no such thing!" Raistlin snapped, assuming a scowl so fast he hoped she would think she had imagined the smile that he could still feel tugging at his lips. Klea laughed and Raistlin had to roll his eyes to combat the slight smile that he couldn't help but let slip.

Raistlin's smile dropped suddenly as he noticed two girls looking over at him and Klea and giggling and whispering to each other. Raistlin's face drained of color, except for the redness rushing to his cheeks despite his best efforts to resist it, and he ducked his head down to stare at his and Klea's feet. They were strangely in sync with their steps, but of course as soon as he paid attention to it he got off step with her. Klea narrowed her eyes at Raistlin and nudged him in the arm.

"Hey, what's going on? Our feet can't be that interesting," she grinned.

"Nothing," Raistlin fumbled, casting a quick glance upwards, but after once more catching the eye of the two girls he hastily ducked back down. The girls giggled louder and Klea finally noticed them.

Klea's brows furrowed as she glanced from the girls to Raistlin. Suddenly her eyes glinted mischievously and she smirked. Klea slipped her hand around Raistlin's arm and leaned further into him. Raistlin stared at her like she was crazy, but Klea simply grinned vapidly and giggled.

"What are you doing?" Raistlin deadpanned.

"Just trust me," Klea whispered and then let out a high-pitched, bubbly noise that Raistlin had never heard her make before. He was a bit perturbed to realize she was laughing.

The girls watching them immediately raised their brows, eyes widening. They hastily turned to each other to whisper furiously before obviously craning their heads to look after Raistlin as he passed by them with Klea glued to his side like some silly, giggling growth.

As soon as the girls passed out of sight, Klea dropped Raistlin's arm and resumed her typical smirk. She shivered a bit involuntarily at the sounds she had made but gave Raistlin a triumphant grin. Raistlin glared at her questioningly.

"Girls like what they think others like. Now, because they think you're appealing to me, they'll find you appealing," she explained as if this was the simplest concept in the world.

Raistlin was thoroughly perplexed. He hadn't ever imagined girls to be so complicated and well, shallow. Well, he had his suspicions, but this just seemed weird. He shook his head and didn't press the matter but determined to gloat to her later about her faulty reasoning when her ploy didn't work. Upon reflection, Raistlin wasn't quite sure if he wanted it to work or not.

Raistlin wasn't disappointed by Klea's reaction to the Inn of the Last Home. Her eyes shone brightly as she took it all in, running her hands along the smooth bar, playing with the colored lights cast by the stained glass windows, and hungrily sniffing at the delicious odor of Otik's cooking. They grabbed a quick bite to eat—well, Klea ate while Raistlin barely nibbled at a few potatoes before passing his own portion to her. Raistlin quickly hurried them out however after noticing a few of the other patrons and barmaids glancing curiously at him and Klea. He wanted to hustle his friend out of there before Otik came out to play one thousand questions—of which Raistlin figured most would be hinting to Klea being a pretty young girl.

"Do you now have a mental image of Solace so you can use the ring to get here?" Raistlin asked as they strolled along the walkways.

"I think so. I've especially memorized a few spots that were a bit secluded, which would work for my entrances," she remarked charmingly. "I should probably test it first, though. Just to make sure," she said pulling out her ring.

Klea turned it in her hand a bit, frowning at the blackened edges. Raistlin glanced over to see what she was frowning at but she hastily closed her hand around the ring to hide it's discoloration. Klea fixed a grin onto her face and wrapped her arms around Raistlin. Raistlin rolled his eyes and briefly raised his arms to quickly pat her back to end the hug. Klea released him and was about to slip the ring onto her finger when Raistlin stopped her.

"Could I try it too? I mean, I'm quite interested to know what it's like, to travel with the ring," Raistlin asked. Klea was a bit taken aback.

"Oh, um, I don't know if it would work with two people," she began but at Raistlin's slightly disappointed look she continued hastily. "But we can give it a shot!" she grinned. "Alright, let's see, maybe if you hold onto me, then it might take you too," she guessed.

Raistlin nodded and grabbed onto her arm.

"Okay, now, you have to focus on where we're going. Picture it in your mind as clearly as you can," Klea instructed. Raistlin nodded.

Klea glanced at him a bit warily but closed her eyes to picture the spot beneath the vallenwoods by the stairs that was hidden in shadows. Just as she slipped the ring on her finger, she realized that she hadn't told Raistlin which spot she was thinking of. But the magic was already at work—although this time, she felt pulled in different directions before finally dropping onto solid ground. Klea peeled open her eyes to check their surroundings and her jaw dropped.

"Where the hell are we?" Raistlin demanded.

That was a good question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah sorry about the cliffhanger... except not really


	4. An Unintentional Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuck in the middle of who-knows-where, Raistlin and Klea's budding friendship is put to the test.

Trees surrounded the two kids, but not the soaring, gigantic vallenwoods of Solace—where they were supposed to have gone—but average-sized trees. Their feet crunched on the layering of dead leaves from the past winter, though the trees now had new leaves that were green. They created a thick canopy that only rarely deigned to let the sun slip through.

"Klea, where are we?" Raistlin demanded grimly. From his tone, Klea began to understand why people didn't really like him. He could sound very accusatory!

So, maybe it was _sort of_ her fault since she hadn't coordinated with him for what place to think of. But it's not like she did this on purpose! She had never used the ring with simultaneous competing thoughts—she didn't know they would be knocked off course so badly.

"Does it look like I know?" she snapped, probably a bit too harshly, but the silver ring had gone mostly black, so Klea wasn't in a particularly good mood.

"Well, it's not important," Raistlin sighed. "We can just use the ring to get back to Solace."

Klea avoided his gaze and walked over to inspect a nearby tree. Raistlin narrowed his eyes and stepped towards her.

"We can just use the ring again, right?" Raistlin said tersely.

Klea continued to try to avoid his gaze but she finally yielded to his piercing glare and dropped her shoulders dramatically.

"We can't! It runs out of power if you use it too often within a short amount of time. I've found you can only really do three big jumps within six hours," Klea explained testily.

"Well, we've only used two jumps, so we're fine," Raistlin thought out loud, noticing Klea's refusal to look back at him. "Klea? We've only used two jumps, right?" he asked sternly, already knowing the answer.

Klea wouldn't look him in the eye. Raistlin groaned.

"It was lunchtime and I was hungry okay! And the baker was out there again, so I started craving strudel!" Klea exclaimed.

Raistlin groaned and shook his head. How could she have been this stupid? Using up an artifact's limited power with pointless detours. Admittedly, he hadn't even asked if the ring's power was limited, neither had he made sure they coordinated their thoughts on where to go. Even if she was absent-minded and had forgotten, he should've made sure to do so. But then he didn't know they would wind up the-gods-knew how far away from Solace with no way to get back!

Raistlin exhaled a long suffering breath and raised his head. He tried not to glare too harshly at Klea, but from her responding glare he figured he had failed in the attempt. He rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Well, we might as well start walking," he sighed.

"Which direction?" Klea demanded, throwing up her arms. "Which way is Solace?"

"How should I know?" Raistlin flared.

"I don't know maybe because you live there!" Klea exclaimed. She knew she was being irrational, but arguing with Raistlin was really the only thing she could think to do right now.

"But I don't know where we are! We could be north, south, east, west of Solace, or on another damn continent for all I know!" Raistlin shouted back.

Klea rolled her eyes and shook her head. Turning away from Raistlin, because if she looked at his blotchy red face anymore she would try to make it turn purple, she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Her heartbeat steadily returned to a normal pace and with a big exhale she imagined she was casting out her anger and irritation. Opening her eyes, she turned back around to face Raistlin.

"Are you any good at climbing trees?" Klea asked simply. Raistlin looked at her like she had gone crazy.

"I live in a tree-town, of course I can climb trees," Raistlin spat, not understanding the relevance of this at all. They should be trying to figure out where they were; finding a road or a town or checking the stars or—oh, she _was_ intelligent.

"Alright, then come on!" Klea commanded as she walked over to a tree with low-hanging branches and tested her weight on it.

The branch held well, so Klea used it to pull herself up while her feet scrabbled along the trunk until she finally managed to swing a leg up over the branch. The next branch was pretty far away, but she could reach, so she just had to struggle a bit to climb up once more without a foothold. Once Klea seated herself on the next branch, Raistlin followed after her. He was taller so it wasn't as tough for him to reach and climb to the branches, but he wasn't the strongest of kids so he was soon breathing heavily right there with her.

"Alright, let's pause for a bit," Klea gasped as she rested her back against the trunk, a leg hanging off on other side of a branch. Raistlin seated himself on a branch a few inches from hers. "You're a regular tree-climber, huh?" Klea teased breathlessly. Raistlin went red, not necessarily a feat considering he was already quite pink from exertion.

"Well, it's not like I seek it out regularly," Raistlin replied defensively.

"That's alright, me neither. Mostly because I'm short and the trees around my town are really big with high branches," she explained, wiping sweat from her brow. She glanced upwards through the branches, trying to see the top of the trees, their end goal. Patting Raistlin's leg, which he glared at, Klea stood up on her branch, hanging onto a nearby one to keep her balance. "We're almost there, come on."

Raistlin sighed and followed after her as she stepped up onto the next level of branches. It wasn't much more of a climb before the two were pushing aside leaves to peer out above the treetops. Klea shielded her eyes with her hand as the sun glared over at them unreservedly as if trying to make up for leaving them devoid of it while under the canopy.

The sun was past its zenith, on the gradual decline towards the horizon in the west. Raistlin glanced away from the glaring sun. His eyes instantly caught hold of the great, lone peak marring the landscape to the northeast. Raistlin pointed over to the mountain.

"That's Prayer's Eye Peak!" he told Klea who glanced at him expectantly, not knowing the region and what that meant. "So we're just a bit southwest of Solace. It should be over around there," Raistlin pointed out to the right of the mountain which loomed close. "We should be near the road."

"Alright, let's get to the road then, and hopefully we'll come across kind travelers willing to give us a ride back," Klea said as she began her descent.

The climb down was not nearly as exhausting as the climb up and they dropped back down to the ground only mildly tired. Their arms and legs were a bit scratched up from the branches, but aside from that they didn't look any worse for wear, well ignoring Klea's wildly straying hair. At Raistlin's smirk, she hastily tried to stamp down the fly-aways, but it was no use, so with a groan she left it a tousled mess. The two set off towards the direction of the road, teasing each other about their tree-climbing skills, or rather lack thereof.

"And when you got stuck holding that branch that was way too far away, with your feet still on the lower one," Raistlin teased with a smirk.

"Well, excuse me for being slightly vertically challenged," Klea retorted. "What's your excuse for getting your foot stuck between those two branches?"

"I slipped!" Raistlin protested.

The two reached the road and wandered along the edge, keeping their eyes peeled for any other travelers, but also for brigands, although considering their appearance they doubted brigands would have any interest in them. They clearly didn't have anything to steal, well aside from the ring, but that was hidden away in a pocket.

The sun hung just over the trees now and their feet grew sore and tired, making both teenagers irritable—at least more so than usual. Klea grew especially fidgety, worrying over her mistress returning to the shop to find Klea and an artifact missing. To be honest though, she knew her mistress would be more upset over the missing ring than her missing protégée.

"Is it a holiday or something? Where are all the damn people?" Klea demanded.

"Well, the nearest town is about a hundred miles away in either direction, and it's getting dark," Raistlin snapped. So he might've exaggerated a bit, Solace couldn't be more than twenty miles away, but it certainly felt like farther.

Klea groaned dramatically and fumbled in her pouch for the ring. Pulling it out, the silver caught the light and set it glinting. Raistlin hastily clamped a hand over the ring and part of Klea's hand, glancing around warily.

"What are you doing? What if there are brigands out there? They just saw that we have something of value!" he whispered harshly. Klea rolled her eyes.

"Wow, Raistlin, I doubt a single, silver ring would catch the eye of any—"

Raistlin did not like the way her voice faded off. He especially didn't like the way her eyes widened as they looked out over his shoulder and she clutched onto his arm. Her nails dug painfully into his arm and he winced.

"Okay, you can say 'told you so' later," Klea began in a smothered breath. "But for now we should definitely _run_!"

At that she bolted, practically dragging Raistlin after her. A gruff voice hollered after them and a great rustling of bushes followed. Heavy footfalls chased after them as Raistlin hastened alongside Klea, not daring to turn to look behind them. Klea turned sharply back into the woods, Raistlin right on her heels and the brigands not far behind.

Klea glanced down at the ring in her clutched hand to see the black slowly fading away, but it wasn't enough yet. Pumping her legs as fast as she could, she darted in between trees forging a zig-zag path through the woods. She could tell Raistlin was right there with her only by the sound of his pounding feet and haggard gasps for breath. She knew his lungs probably felt like bursting, but she didn't dare slow their pace. Her mother had warned her enough times about what brigands did to women they captured.

Racing through the trees, Raistlin felt his legs and lungs failing. His vision gradually began to blur, the edges going black as his face felt like it was burning. Klea wasn't faring much better as his quick glances at her face revealed it to be the color of a tomato and she certainly wasn't going as fast as she had been. The sounds of their pursuers grew louder and Raistlin knew they wouldn't be able to outrun them for much longer. Before he could even consider what would happen if they were caught, Klea skidded to an abrupt halt.

A man leapt out of the woods ahead of them brandishing a knife. Klea slipped along the dead leaves as she redirected herself to the left, Raistlin skidding right after her. They hadn't gotten far though when another man appeared to block their new path. Every direction they tried to turn they found leering men brandishing weapons until they were surrounded. Raistlin and Klea crept closer together, standing back to back as the men closed in around them.

"Do you know any spells yet?" Klea whispered fiercely to Raistlin.

"No, you?" he gasped back.

"Nope," she replied grimly.

"How's the ring coming along?" Raistlin asked as the men pressed closer.

Klea peered down at the ring clutched in her palm. The black was slowly seeping away to reveal brilliant silver, but it wasn't nearly enough to get them back. Klea set her jaw in determination.

Silver flashed in the fading light as a knife appeared in Klea's hand. Raistlin's eyes widened at her nerve, but the brigands didn't seem impressed. They laughed and nudged each other, pointing at the small girl.

"Looks like this one's gonna stick us with her sewing needle," one burly man chortled.

"Well, she has to defend her helpless maid there," another man said nodding to Raistlin.

Raistlin's face burned at the insult. If he had had a weapon of his own he would've flung it at their great ugly faces, maybe slit a throat or two. Klea, despite the men's teasing, seemed quite deft with the small, thin blade. Raistlin hadn't even seen where she had gotten it from, it had seemingly materialized in her hand. She flipped it in her hand, making it dance between her fingers as her eyes reflected the glint of the steel. At that, the brigands gave pause, but an especially grim looking man with a jagged scar shoved at his closest companion.

"They're children, you spineless bastards! I for one am not afraid of a feisty young bitch," he sneered, leering at Klea.

Klea glared a fierce look at the man, but it was Raistlin that burned at the man's intent. Raistlin stepped in front of Klea, shielding her behind his body and glaring at the man. Klea's brow furrowed in confusion at Raistlin's gesture, but as the man moved to lunge at her friend, she glanced down once more to the ring in her hand. It was about a fifth of the way silver. Klea shook her head but set her jaw.

"It'll have to do. Think of the clearing," she ordered.

The man was inches from running through Raistlin with a short sword when Klea grasped hold of Raistlin's hand and slipped on the ring. She hadn't closed her eyes beforehand and was met with swirling colors and grotesquely distorted shapes that made her stomach churn. Clamping her eyes shut didn't seem to help much as the images were seared onto the backs of her eyelids. She felt Raistlin's nails digging into the back of her hand and she tried to focus on the pain rather than the nausea. The ground seemed to burst upon her and her eyes flared open as she crashed hard into the ground, the knife slipping from one hand, the other tearing away from Raistlin's as he too fell hard with a thud.

They both lay there groaning in pain and nausea for a while before even trying to sit up. Raistlin was first to his feet, but he swayed dangerously and plopped back down on the ground with a wince. Klea sat up, her head aching. Reaching her hand to her forehead, Klea noticed the ring on her finger. She slipped it off quickly before it could take her somewhere else and held it in her hand, inspecting it.

The black had barely grown at all. There was still enough silver for another jump!

"Solace wasn't a hundred miles away!" she glared accusingly at Raistlin, swatting him in the arm.

Raistlin clutched at his stinging arm and glared over at her.

"So I exaggerated," he grumbled in response.

"You idiot! We could've used the ring to get back hours before the brigands showed up!" she exclaimed, once more swatting at him.

"Well, how was I supposed to know how much power was left in the ring?" Raistlin retorted defensively.

Klea groaned and rolled her eyes, laying back down against the ground. Raistlin glanced down at her before sighing and lowering himself down on the grass beside her. Klea brought her arms up and behind her head, hitting Raistlin's head with her elbow in the process.

"Ow! Gods, you have the boniest elbows in Krynn," Raistlin grumbled, rubbing his aching temple. Klea rolled her eyes.

"And you're a wimp, I didn't even hit you that hard," she chuckled.

Raistlin glared over at her, but she was looking up at the sky, so his look was wasted. He turned his head to look up at the sky too. It was darkening, the bright blue fading to a more steely color pinpointed by only the brightest stars that were determined to make themselves seen. He should really be heading back, Caramon would be worrying like a mother hen by this point, probably trying to convince the town guard to go out in full to search for his brother. Raistlin sneered at the thought, but Klea's voice pierced his cynical thoughts.

"Why'd you jump in front of me?" she questioned bluntly, not turning to look at him but keeping her eyes fixed on the darkening sky.

Raistlin was taken aback. Both because she had evidently been thinking about that act, and because he didn't have an answer for her. He honestly didn't know why he had jumped in between her and that brigand. It was stupid, probably the stupidest thing he had ever done. He had thrown himself between two armed people, what in the Abyss had he been thinking? There was no doubt in his mind that Klea probably could've handled herself leagues better than he could; for one she had been prepared with a weapon while he had been left unarmed with no means of defense besides his wit, which had promptly fled him the moment danger appeared. She had gotten them out of there, leading them through the woods, holding off the men with her knife, and then using the ring to escape just in time. So why had he felt the ridiculous urge to protect _her_ after that brigand had simply leered at her?

"I don't know," Raistlin admitted, shrugging. "It was stupid and you can clearly take care of yourself, so I honestly have no idea why I acted so foolishly."

"You didn't even have a knife!" Klea exclaimed, turning to look over at him, smiling slightly amidst her bewilderment. "I mean what kid doesn't have some form of protection in this day and age?"

"Well, that's where magic's supposed to come in," Raistlin grinned ruefully. "Kind of useless until I can use it, really."

"Even mages have knives as a last resort of self-defense!" Klea argued.

"Where were you keeping it by the way?" Raistlin abruptly changed topics, recalling the blade flashing out of nowhere.

"Oh, my wrist. I got this cool little thing that wraps around my arm and keeps the blade hidden. At the flick of my wrist it releases it down into my hand," she explained, pulling up her sleeve to reveal the empty thong strapped around her thin arm.

She twisted her neck around to look for where her knife had fallen. Spotting it by the log, she stretched herself to reach it instead of actually moving to get it which probably would've been easier. She noticed the expression on Raistlin's face that communicated this thought, but promptly ignored it with a purse of her lips. Lifting her arm, she showed Raistlin how she put the knife back into the straps. Then, straightening out her arm, she flicked her wrist and caught the handle as the knife was released and propelled from the straps by a small coil. She didn't miss Raistlin's interest, his eyes lighting up as he studied the design.

"This is a pretty sophisticated version, most don't have this little spring. Just letting gravity do the work when you're standing, but my dad's pretty serious about safety," Klea continued as she fitted the knife back between the straps and pulled her sleeve back over the device. "I'll see if I can get you one, too."

"No," Raistlin snapped, turning his face back up to the sky. His lips tightened into a straight line as his eyes hardened. She had already saved his life while he had been helpless, he didn't need her charity. Klea studied his flat eyes and clenched jaw and pursed her own lips.

"It's not charity, and I don't pity you," she began bitingly.

"I don't need you to—"

"I think you're stupid, not having any means of defense," she cut him off to finish sharply. Raistlin turned to look at her in shock. "If you want to have to rely on others for protection that's fine, but I couldn't bear having to depend on people like that. There'll always be a point where you're on your own and there's no one there to help," she stated, turning away from him.

Now her eyes had hardened and Raistlin wondered what had made her close off so quickly. He knew she didn't appreciate his pride, or what she termed his 'stupid refusal to accept help,' but this was different. She hadn't ever snapped at him about it. Sure they bickered and yelled at each other, but this had a different tone. A truly angry one, and Raistlin didn't know how to respond to it.

"I don't want to have to depend on others, but I don't know how to defend myself," he muttered.

"Knives are easy, just slice and stab," she replied. Her tone wasn't as biting, but still had a hard edge to it. Raistlin was still trying to decipher her mood when she spoke again, but this time quiet and gentle, almost to herself. "I don't want you to be defenseless."

Raistlin didn't know how to respond to that, or even if he should, so he didn't. The two lay there looking up at the sky for a while longer in silence. Klea finally got to her feet, Raistlin following after her, and she broke the silence.

"I should be going. My mistress has probably turned out the town guards for the ring," she stated, lacking her usual cheerful sarcasm.

"My brother's probably done the same for me," Raistlin agreed with a slight rueful smirk. The familiar displeasure this thought brought up for Raistlin was momentarily dispelled by Klea actually grinning a bit, her crooked one. "I'll see you soon?"

"If my mistress doesn't string me up by my thumbs," Klea shrugged, her crooked smile widening a bit. "Don't worry, I'll track you down if I survive," she joked.

Considering she wasn't in the best of moods, Raistlin was a bit surprised, and of course peeved, that she hugged him. Klea wrapped her arms around Raistlin and pressed herself into his chest. Raistlin resignedly put his arms around her too, but instead of releasing him, Klea pressed closer. Raistlin was confused. This hug felt different. She wasn't doing it to tease him or simply as a quick goodbye. It was almost as if she was seeking real comfort. Raistlin furrowed his brow, confused as to why he felt compelled to offer it to her. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and felt her release the tension in her shoulders. She released a deep breath and finally loosened her arms from around him. Raistlin returned his arms to his side as Klea stepped away from him.

"Bye," she said as she pulled out the ring and slipped it on. She disappeared immediately, the activation of the magic setting his robes rustling as if by a slight wind. He looked at where she had been standing, picturing that look that he had never seen on her face. The closest thing he could compare it to was the look she had gotten when she had first spoken about her family in depth, but even that wasn't quite the same, that one was more bitter while this one had something else to it…

Shaking his head, Raistlin turned to leave the clearing. He tried to resign himself to never understanding that girl, but his curiosity wouldn't let him drop it. Instead, he knew he would be pondering her strange shift in mood for the next few weeks, as he did with every fascinating and different thing she did. He began his pondering on his way back to town, figuring an interesting conundrum a more pleasant thought than the smothering worry his brother would undoubtedly greet him with back in town.


	5. A Misunderstanding (or two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caramon grows suspicious of his brother's strange moods while Raistlin takes Klea out around Solace. After running into a familiar face, the two begin contemplating their relationship, the lines of which begin to blur due to Klea's attempts to "help" Raistlin's image in town.

15 th Summer

Caramon was confused.

And not just over his brother's schooling, as he still wasn't quite sure what Raistlin was learning—he insisted it was magic but whenever Caramon asked him to make a coin disappear Raistlin would yell at him saying "Not that kind!" and Caramon couldn't really think of any other kinds so he pretended to understand. Nor was it about his brother's seeming disinterest in girls, or at least his proclaimed disinterest in girls, Caramon saw how fidgety and nervous Raistlin got around a pretty girl and he knew that reaction proved his brother wrong.

No, Caramon was confused by his brother's moods.

Typically Raistlin was moody and occasionally grouchy. Sometimes he was gentle and other times downright mean—Caramon merely shook it off, of course. He understood that his brother didn't really fit in and so he excused his brother's rudeness to his insecurities rather than any actual malicious intent. Every now and then Raist was a bit more light-hearted and Caramon could actually joke around with him without getting his head bit off. And a lot of the time Raistlin was really deep, always thinking about important things like the future and power and the gods.

Caramon knew all of Raistlin's moods and knew how to react to them most of the time. Sometimes he could even predict them! But within the past year Raistlin's moods had started to become more… unpredictable. And a bit unsettling.

Like last spring. There were a few weeks where Raistlin had been downright giddy! And Caramon didn't exactly know how to handle that. He certainly had no idea what brought it on, it seemed to come out of nowhere and no matter how hard he tried Caramon couldn't get Raistlin to tell him the reason. And then right after that, Raistlin had gotten extremely depressed. He was angrier and had a much shorter temper than usual. Caramon could hardly get a word out before Raist would snap at him! And he was just trying to help!

Thus, Caramon was not overly excited when his brother began displaying similar excitement again. Yes, he was glad to see his brother smiling, although it was a bit disconcerting when he caught him humming to himself. But Caramon knew that with Raistlin's peaks, an inevitable valley of despair was approaching and he hated seeing his brother that way. This time, Caramon was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"What are you smiling about?" Caramon asked as he entered the kitchen to find Raistlin looking out the window with a huge, dopey grin on his face. Raistlin jumped but his grin didn't falter when he saw his brother in the doorway, though he did roll his eyes.

"Oh, nothing my brother," Raistlin replied as he began towards the door to move past him but Caramon blocked the way.

"Mhm," Caramon grunted, unconvinced.

Raistlin scoffed and rolled his eyes, his usual acerbic tone returning.

"I was merely observing the bird's nest outside the window. The chicks have grown quite quickly and they were attempting to fly. It was rather… cute," Raistlin said the word as if it left a strange taste in his mouth.

Caramon's brow simply furrowed. Raist was smiling at a bunch of baby birds? And he thought it was _cute_?

Caramon's confusion gave Raistlin opportunity to slip past his brother and exit the kitchen. Raistlin made a beeline for the front door but was halted before he could reach it.

"Raistlin!" the Widow Judith called sternly. Raistlin's shoulders tensed but he took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax before turning around.

"Yes?" he returned, trying very hard to sound polite and not irritated. Apparently he failed as the Widow Judith's brow quirked ever so slightly in displeasure, but she placed a carefully casual smile on her lips.

"Your mother was wondering if you would care to accompany us on a walk around town as we visit some neighbors," Widow Judith extended the invitation seemingly politely, but Raistlin recognized the twitch at the corner of her mouth, indicating a forced smile that much matched his own. The two stared each other down for a moment. They did not like each other but neither was wont to be seen as aggressive or unfriendly to the other and thus disrupt the recent family dynamic.

"Please tell my mother that, regretfully, I have plans and it would be quite rude of me to forsake them," Raistlin answered smoothly. He could see the relief smooth the lines from the Widow Judith's face and ease the tension in her shoulders as he declined. Raistlin felt much the same way and hastened to the door before his mother could come out to offer the invitation herself, which would essentially be a guilt trip that would probably result in an argument.

Raistlin pulled open the door to find Klea standing inches away, knuckles hanging in the air in preparation to knock, eyes wide in surprise. She blinked a few times before dropping her raised hand and stepping back a bit.

"Oh! Ready to go?" she asked. Before she could even finish, Raistlin was sliding past her out the door and closing it behind him.

"Most assuredly," Raistlin confirmed as he began walking hurriedly away from the house, forcing Klea to jump to catch up with him.

Caramon had just gotten over his confusion in time to hear the door open and quickly shut. He raced over to the window to try and see where his brother was off to in such a hurry. He was most definitely surprised to see, of all things, the back of a girl with long dark hair rushing to catch up with his brother. Blinking in shock, Caramon stared after them until they disappeared amidst the branches. Suddenly, Caramon's face relaxed as he grinned a knowing smile.

So that's why his brother was acting so strangely!

* * *

"Huma's beard! Slow down, Raistlin!" Klea called irritably as she was forced to run to catch up with the boy. Raistlin stopped, turning to look behind them as if to ascertain if they were far enough away. "In a hurry much?" Klea asked sarcastically. Raistlin actually grinned slightly.

"My apologies, but I wanted to get out of sight before my mother could see," Raistlin replied before grinning teasingly at Klea. "Did Huma even have a beard?"

Klea paused and pursed her lips in thought. "You know, I have no idea," she answered solemnly before grinning. "I actually found some old books the other day and one of them had a bit about Huma. It didn't say if he had a beard but it did detail some of his greater exploits. His and his friend Magius's… who was a mage. You know, I don't think the name gave him much leeway with career options. It's like his parents were grooming him to magic from birth," Klea laughed.

Raistlin hadn't really thought about that before, but he supposed she had a point seeing as how similar the man's name was to "magus." He was much more interested in these old books she had found though. "Where did you find these books?"

"Oh," Klea's face fell somewhat and she looked away from him. "We went to the family estate and I explored the library." When Raistlin didn't question why her parents returned to the family that had practically exiled them she sighed deeply and continued a bit more at ease. "My ancestors managed to save some of their knowledge before the old keep was attacked and the books have stayed in the family. Though no one really reads them anymore because it goes on about the old gods."

Raistlin perked up at the last comment.

"The old gods?" he prompted curiously.

"Yeah, like Paladine and Mishakal. There were also three gods of magic that the moons were named for," Klea explained.

"They are still here at least," Raistlin corrected. Klea glanced at him curiously. "I met them."

Klea's brows shut up like they were trying to join her hairline.

"You met the gods of magic?" she demanded in shock.

"Yes, during my first test when I was thirteen. They spoke to me, all three of them, although Lunitari seemed to be the only one that liked me," Raistlin admitted with a smirk.

"Wow! I mean, I knew the magic came from the old gods but I had no idea that they were still here and… talking to people!" Klea exclaimed. Raistlin furrowed his brow.

"You mean you didn't see them? During the test to see if you had magic abilities?" Raistlin questioned. Klea shook her head.

"Nope, just wrote down 'I Magus' and the letters lit up," Klea replied.

Raistlin was silent. He had known his test had been special, he could tell that from Theobald's shock and fear when the lamb's skin had burned, but he hadn't thought his experience unheard of. Magic was the gift of the gods after all and so it seemed reasonable that they would show themselves to those they had gifted. Apparently that wasn't the case.

Klea was shaking her head in shock.

"Wow, you must be…" she paused. Raistlin glanced at her curiously. Klea rolled her eyes. "Never mind, your ego doesn't need any more stoking," she grinned as she bumped his side with her elbow. His hand reached for the point of impact, but when Klea's lips curled in preparation to teasing his delicacy he dropped it. He rolled his eyes at her short chuckle.

"So, why didn't you want your mom to see? Were you worried she'd think I was your girlfriend?" Klea teased with wiggling eyebrows. Raistlin scoffed.

"No. The only person who could believe _that_ is my brother," Raistlin smirked. Klea narrowed her eyes at him.

"Ha ha!" she stated dully. "Whatever Raistlin, I'm a catch!" she then laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder mockingly.

"That's my point," Raistlin mumbled, his smirk slipping. Luckily, Klea didn't hear him, or at least he thought she didn't as she didn't comment.

"Alright, so then why are you avoiding your mother?" Klea asked, pulling him back to her original question.

"I'm not avoiding her!" Raistlin scoffed indignantly and merely rolled his eyes at Klea's glare. "I didn't want to be dragged around town with her and Widow Judith. And if she had seen me she wouldn't have taken 'no' for an answer, at least not without making me feel guilty," Raistlin explained bitterly.

"Still not getting on with Judith?" Klea asked sarcastically. Every visit since the widow Judith had come along was strewn with bitter complaints and sour looks whenever she came up as a topic. Klea understood his dislike of the woman as she clearly hated magic, as most of the phony religions popping up did, but she wasn't exactly fond of his moaning on about it. Most people on Krynn didn't like magic-users, it just came with the territory and she couldn't figure out why Raistlin took it so personally. Being disliked was simply an inevitability of the path they'd chosen so Klea had come to accept it and generally just ignored those who told her she would be forever tormented in the Abyss for her crime of being a mage. Of course, it did still sting, when friends would glance warily at every move she made or people would cross to the other side of the street, but to her mind the problem wasn't with her but with them.

Raistlin scoffed in answer. Before either could comment further on the subject, much to Klea's relief, they were distracted by a gaggle of giggling girls clearly trying to get Raistlin's attention. The girls were on a higher walkway, waving and calling out greetings to "Majere" which only told Klea that they didn't know Raistlin's name and probably only knew him as Caramon's brother. Klea rolled her eyes and glanced at Raistlin to exchange mocking looks only to find him blushing furiously and looking anywhere but towards the girls. Catching Klea's glance, which was now more surprised than mocking, he tensed.

"They've been doing that ever since that one time when you latched onto me and made that strange noise—"

"Giggle, go on," Klea interrupted, a new smirk forming.

"Yes, that… they treat me like they do my brother and it's… unnerving," Raistlin all but shivered.

"You're the only guy I've met that's uncomfortable with attention from girls," she remarked, shaking her head. She then paused and gave Raistlin a curious look. "Wait. Do you like girls? Or do you like guys? I'm not judging, I'm just curious, it would explain a lot—"

"What? No!" Raistlin spluttered, turning red. "I find girls attractive I just—I don't—I can't speak to them—what do I say to a girl?"

"You talk to me," Klea pointed out.

"That's different," Raistlin waved it off.

"I'm a girl too!" Klea protested, a bit insulted. Raistlin sighed.

"But you're not like them. All giggling and emotional and delicate—" Raistlin stopped when he noticed the evil glare Klea was giving him. "What?"

"I don't act like that with _you_ because you're my friend, but how do you know they're different? Maybe they act just like this with their friends and only get all flustered and flirty around guys they like because they're nervous or want to make a good impression," Klea suggested. "And besides, how do you know I'm never like that? Maybe I am around certain—"

Klea was cut off when she ran straight into someone. The other person hardly seemed affected at all but Klea rebounded off him like a pinball and stumbled backwards. Raistlin instinctively reached out to grab her arm and kept her from falling over.

"Are you all right?" Raistlin was about to say but the other guy beat him to it. Raistlin heaved a deep breath as if preparing for a battle—which wasn't entirely unlikely, though not a battle of arms, more likely a battle of words—as he recognized the voice.

Raistlin helped steady Klea and noticed that her body instantly tensed. She looked up, wide-eyed, at the blue-eyed boy she had just run into. A handsome blue-eyed boy she had seen before, though he probably wouldn't remember.

"Are you all right?" Sturm repeated again after a moment of silence in which Klea simply stared at him. "I must apologize, I was deep in thought and not paying attention to where I was going."

Klea gaped like a fish out of water. Raistlin stared at her incredulously. This girl had stared down ruffians trying to kill them without flinching but she looked terrified as she faced the polite, young Sturm Brightblade. Raistlin nudged her arm.

"Fine! I'm fine—I just—uh—just a bit shaken—is all—hehe…" Klea trailed off from her fragmented response with an attempt at a laugh. "Apologize—no need—I should—it was my fault, I… wasn't looking, I was talking and distracted and just ran straight into a tree!" Sturm quirked his head at that and Klea rushed to explain herself. "Well, I thought it was a tree 'cause it was quite solid, but turned out to be you, sorry," she clarified before her eyes bulged realizing that may have been offensive, though at this point Sturm was smiling slightly. "And the tree thing's not an insult—it's a compliment! You—you're quite solid—strong! Probably lots of… of… muscles…" Klea died off looking horrified. She clamped her mouth shut and dropped her gaze instantly from the attractive boy to stare at her feet.

"It's alright, I'm just glad you were not hurt," Sturm replied.

"Just my pride," Klea thought sourly. Raistlin rolled his eyes.

"Beg your pardon, but you actually look familiar. Have we met before?" Sturm asked Klea, who tried valiantly to hide the blush she could feel heating her face.

"Oh! Uh… I don't know… I'm not from around here, but I've been here before," Klea lied. She remembered meeting him on her first attempted trip to Solace. Somehow he had gotten even more handsome since then. At least the first time she had had time to prepare herself to talk to him, this time she was ambushed.

"Oh yes!" Sturm exclaimed. "I can't believe I didn't recognize you from the accent alone. You're from Solamnia, are you not? You were here last summer I believe."

"Oh, yeah! Now I remember," Klea agreed with a nod.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner, I'm Sturm," he said, holding out his hand.

"Klea," she replied reaching out her hand to shake his, but instead he took her hand and pressed a light kiss against her knuckles, which completely undid all her work to hold back her blush. She slipped her hand out of his as soon as she could and looked for any kind of distraction. Luckily, there was one brooding right next to her.

"I came to visit my friend," she said gesturing to Raistlin despite his pointed glare.

Sturm turned and finally noticed him, much to Raistlin's annoyance. He had almost thought he would get out of this without having to speak to Sturm. The boy's smile instantly dropped and his voice become cool.

"Raistlin," he acknowledged tersely.

"Sturm," Raistlin replied.

Klea was momentarily distracted from her own self-inflicted humiliation by the cold tones of the boys staring each other down. She glanced between the two, brows furrowing.

"You two…? Oh, of course, you know each other, you both live here," Klea answered her own question.

"Yes, Sturm and my brother are quite close," Raistlin explained coldly.

Sturm was the first to break eye contact and turned to Klea.

"If I might ask, how did you two come to meet?"

Raistlin scoffed. What Sturm really meant was how could a seemingly nice Solamnic girl ever become friends with the Sly One?

"Well, um," Klea began and Raistlin could practically see the gears turning in her head as she searched for a believable lie. "My family was visiting Haven—my father's a merchant—and we wanted to stop by the Inn of the Last Home when we passed through Solace. My father had apparently gone before and said we had to try the potatoes. So we came through Solace and got hopelessly lost, but ran into Raistlin who kindly showed us the way. I had stupidly thought that since we were travelling south it couldn't possibly be cold, so when he noticed me shivering and my teeth chattering he lent me his coat which I promptly forgot to return to him. Well, when we were passing back through Solace on our way home I tracked him down to return it. We got to talking and just… yeah," Klea finished with a sigh. "So now every time my father comes back down this way I come with him to visit Raistlin."

Sturm looked to Raistlin as if to confirm the story and Raistlin nodded. This was a much more believable story than the one they had told his brother, and part of it was actually true. Sturm didn't seem relieved by the confirmation though. His lips pressed into a line and he cleared his throat.

"Interesting. I didn't know Raistlin to be so friendly with strangers," Sturm said. Raistlin's eyes narrowed.

"Yes, he was quite the gentleman," Klea declared with a smile and a glance to Raistlin. He couldn't tell if it was supposed to be genuine or teasing though. Even if Sturm couldn't wholly believe that the two had met because Raistlin had been _polite_ , he wasn't going to suggest any slight to the lady's honor by suspecting her of lying.

"Well, it was a pleasure to see you again, m'lady, but I really must be on my way," Sturm told Klea.

"Oh, yes! Pleasure to see you, too!" Klea responded, a bit too enthusiastically.

Sturm bowed to Klea and then nodded to Raistlin.

"Raistlin," he stated, to which Raistlin nodded in return. "If I see your brother, I will let him know that you are in safe hands," he said with a nod to Klea who blushed.

"Thank you," Raistlin said, and he actually meant it. If anyone could convince Caramon that Raistlin was fine and in no need of a search and rescue party, it would be Sturm Brightblade.

With a final smile to Klea, and a somewhat softened glare to Raistlin, Sturm continued past them down the walkway.

Raistlin turned on Klea.

Her smile immediately dropped, her eyes wide.

"What in the Abyss was that?" Raistlin demanded, trying to keep a chuckle from ruining his mocking sternness. Klea fidgeted and tried to fight down a blush.

"What do you mean?" she mumbled in an attempt at ignorance. Raistlin scoffed.

"Oh, I don't know, perhaps I'm referring to your inarticulate babbling. Or your making that ungodly noise again—"

"Giggle," Klea corrected once more. "Yeah, it doesn't sound right to me either. My giggle's just too high-pitched, I need to work on it."

"Or perhaps I'm referring to your face reddening every time that pompous fool glanced at you!" Raistlin snapped. He shut his mouth quickly after that one, realizing that his teasing tone had turned into something bitter. Klea seemed to notice it too as she quirked a brow at him.

"Are you jealous?" she asked.

"What? No! What would I be jealous of?" Raistlin spluttered indignantly. Klea's face broke into a wide grin.

"You are! You're jealous that I didn't make a fool of myself in front of _you_ when we met!" Klea declared triumphantly. "Well, I'm sorry Raistlin. I was just having too much fun arguing with you when we met to get all flustered."

"I don't want you to act like that around me," Raistlin denied and that part was truthful. He liked bickering with Klea and talking with her. He didn't have to try to impress her—partly because he didn't think he ever could. She didn't treat him like a conquest, or a stepping stone to something better. He often wondered if the girls that were nice to him were just trying to get closer to Caramon. He didn't want Klea to act like that around him; that was the truth.

But… he wouldn't have minded if she had been a little flustered when they had first met. He had been attracted to her, so it didn't sound ridiculous to want to be found attractive by her as well.

"Well, good! Because I'm never going to," Klea announced with a grin as she threw her arm around his shoulders. Raistlin stiffened at the contact, but he knew she wasn't going to let go so he tried to relax a bit. He knew he would have to give up over the whole touching thing eventually because she certainly wasn't going to. Not that he _completely_ hated it…

"So, what are we going to do?" Klea asked with a skip. Raistlin paused and glanced to her.

"I don't know. I didn't exactly plan anything," Raistlin retorted defensively.

"Well, I don't live around here, so I don't know what there is to do!" Klea exclaimed.

"You don't exactly give me a forewarning of when you're visiting! I didn't have _time_ to plan anything!" Raistlin snapped. Klea took in a deep breath and breathed it out in a huff, but attempted to smile.

"Well, what do you normally do?" she asked calmly.

Raistlin thought for a moment. His brow furrowed as he went through his usual routine which involved staying indoors as much as possible while also avoiding his family members. Most of the time he studied, or read, or tended his plants. None of those sounded like particularly thrilling group activities though. Sometimes when the house got crowded he'd go out to Crystalmir Lake to read or just think…

"We could go to the lake," Raistlin suggested hesitantly, not entirely sure what they would do there but figuring it was at least a partial plan. Luckily, Klea latched onto the idea.

"There's a lake! Excellent! Lead the way," she grinned, practically bouncing on her heels.

* * *

The lake offered a slight breeze that was welcome in the summer heat. The fishermen on the lake still took care not to let their necks burn but today was better than the sweltering heat that was to come later on. It was even nicer in the shade of the trees along the southern shore of the lake, where Raistlin and Klea were stretched out on the grass.

"So we've been writing down new spells and there's this sleep spell that—have you guys done that one yet?" Klea interrupted her own thought for the question, angling her head to look up at Raistlin from her position lying on her back. Raistlin sat up against a tree and glanced down at Klea who looked uncomfortably contorted as her head was tilted almost perpendicular to her body and her legs bent up to the side. Raistlin shook his head in answer and Klea continued her ramblings.

"Well, Mistress told us it was used alongside dried rose petals but I found a mention in a book on herb lore that fresh petals are always more powerful in spellcasting. So I politely pointed this out to her—" Raistlin chuckled. Klea's _polite pointers_ were less like helpful suggestions and more like sassy declarations that she was smarter. Of course, Raistlin wasn't much better. "And she was enraged! Her face went red and she went off about how I'm a pompous ingrate who fancies myself a genius but am really just another Solamnic trash kid that she invited to her school out of pity! So everyone immediately got—"

"Wait! She called you Solamnic trash?" Raistlin interrupted.

"Well, those weren't her _exact_ words, but that was the message that came across," Klea corrected. Raistlin rolled his eyes with a chuckle. He should be used to her embellishments by now. Just as he should be used to how her lips pucker when she reassesses her words, or how that one lock of hair always falls free from her pony tail to curl on her cheek before she brushes it behind her ear where it never stays for too long before falling right back on her cheekbone…

Raistlin shook his head and shifted against the tree. Klea heard the rustle of his robes and glanced up, once again contorting herself to look over at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Just a crick in my neck," Raistlin mumbled quickly as he rubbed the back of his neck, which really felt just fine, refusing to look anywhere near her. Unfortunately, that meant he caught sight of the group walking along the shoreline.

Raistlin quickly looked away from the lake shore, so quickly that Klea noticed and sat up, turning her head directly to where Raistlin refused to look. A group of boys around Raistlin's age were on the sandy shore of the lake with a boat. One had a fishing pole, as if he was the only one that actually thought they were going to fish. The others seemed more interested in rough housing as one boy ducked his shoulder and rammed straight into another, knocking him to the sand. That of course started a giant free-for-all and guys ended up anywhere from sitting in ankle-deep water or face planting into the grass before a burly blonde boy was deemed champion. Raistlin cast dark glances under lowered brows at the group as he shrunk further into the shadows.

"Friends of yours?" Klea asked sarcastically. Raistlin scoffed in response.

"We even have pet names for each other. I generally refer to them as loutish oxen while they so aptly named me the 'Sly One,'" Raistlin seethed with bitter sarcasm.

"You need to make them respect you," Klea announced. Raistlin scoffed.

"Why do you think I'm trying to become a powerful mage? They may not respect my studies but they will respect my power," Raistlin responded. Something burned in Raistlin's eyes that made Klea a bit nervous. It seemed like he wasn't looking for respect, but fear. Klea pursed her lips in thought.

"Yeah, but that's the distant future. You need to gain their respect now, with something they can understand." Klea's eyes lit up and she smirked mischievously.

Raistlin was still glaring at the group of boys and missed her grin, so he was taken quite by surprise when Klea launched herself at him, clamping her hand over his mouth. Raistlin was tackled off the side of the tree trunk and only managed to save him and her from falling to the ground by throwing his arm out under him. It was then that he had time to focus on the fact that Klea was practically on top of him, her face uncomfortably close and only her hand in between their mouths. Klea winked at Raistlin's wide eyes and kissed the back of her hand.

Apparently the awful sucking sounds Klea was making drew the attention of the group behind them and they grew quiet before someone whistled causing the others to chuckle. Klea grinned and thankfully drew away, sitting up and giving Raistlin room to straighten up. Raistlin did not have to fake the blush that flooded his face upon realizing how close Klea had just been, and what she had been faking. Raistlin's face burned hotter as he thought of Klea _not_ faking. Raistlin shook his head of the unwelcome and disrespectful thoughts. This was his friend! He shouldn't think of her in that way. Although now that the image was in his head, and the feeling in his memory, he couldn't help it.

The chuckles ended abruptly and Raistlin was mortified to find the boys staring at him, mouths gaping in shock.

Klea giggled nervously, drawing some of the attention to herself as she cast glances beneath lowered lashes over towards Raistlin. She was blushing too, but whether it was manufactured or real Raistlin didn't know. A voice at the back of his head said that it was the former, that it was a ridiculous notion to think she could have actually been… affected. That thought effectively drained away the color from his face. After all, _she_ hadn't been the one with an attractive person pressed to her.

"Oh! Thought this was a secluded spot," Klea apologized with a nervous laugh.

The boys were still in stunned silence and once more turned their attention to Raistlin. Klea glanced between the group and Raistlin before scrambling to her feet, grabbing Raistlin's hand on her way up. She tugged Raistlin along after her deeper into the woods, leaving the group of boys standing behind gawking.

Raistlin was dragged along numbly behind Klea as she wove between the trees, heading back towards town. They could hear the boys behind them rousing from their shock.

"Was that the Sly One?"

"Of course that was him, you moron! Who else wears wizard's robes?"

"Who was he with? She's not from town."

"Now I get why he's not interested in the local girls!"

The voices slowly faded away as they got deeper into the woods. When they finally couldn't see or hear the boys, Klea stopped and burst out laughing. Raistlin grimaced.

"What in the Abyss was that?" he demanded, half shocked half angry.

Klea's laugh stopped abruptly as she noticed Raistlin's clenched jaw. She quirked a brow and fixed him with a stern look.

"That was me getting those 'oxen' off your back," she retorted sharply, hands going to her hips.

"No, that was you humiliating me!" Raistlin exploded. "Now everyone will—"

"Think you have a girlfriend which will make them see you as a 'man' and maybe your brother will stop trying to force girls on you. The girls already see you as someone desirable, also thanks to me I might add, and this will just reinforce it and maybe make them remember your name!" Klea snapped. "You should be thanking me! Now they won't torment you as much. You have their _respect_."

Raistlin frowned and avoided eye contact. He supposed she could be right, but it didn't make the situation any less humiliating. Now everyone would think Klea and him were something they weren't— couldn't be. Klea couldn't have feelings for him in _that_ way and it was torturous that she kept pretending to because he… well, he _could_ have feelings for her in that way.

But at the same time, she was right. His neighbors wouldn't exactly warm up to him just because he was seeing someone, but they wouldn't see him as inhuman. They would recognize him as at least partly like themselves. And it would show others that he wasn't entirely unreachable.

Raistlin sighed heavily and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, let's just go," he grumbled and started off.

Klea rolled her eyes but smirked as she followed after him. She'd allow his grumpiness for now because she had kind of sprung this on him without filling him in on her plan beforehand, but hey, she thought on her feet. Admittedly it wasn't one of her best improvisations, because now they would have to constantly pretend to be something they weren't— couldn't be. This would be uncomfortable for the both of them: Raistlin because he wasn't a particularly affectionate person and would be forced to have someone hang all over him, and her because she'd have to pretend… well, that she was pretending.

Her personal feelings aside, she knew this would work. He would thank her later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of issues could've been avoided if these two would just talk about their feelings, but no they both try to hide any emotion other than anger and sass! They've kind of been at odds with each other this entire chapter but something will happen next chapter that will force them to team up again, which is good because they make a pretty good team.
> 
> I'm not completely happy with it as I wanted to get more done in this chapter but already had too much, so what should've been the ending of this chapter will start off the next chapter. This chapter was so difficult to write for some reason and I'm a bit worried that the next one will be too, but after that it should be smoother sailing as it picks up pace.


	6. Hostile Exchanges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word travels fast in Solace and reaches some unfriendly ears, but in trying to manage the repercussions will they blow their cover?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this has been up on ff.net for a while but I kind of forgot I was posting this story on here too... sorry. But now you get two chapters at once so that's good right?

Klea was still intermittently bursting into hysterical giggles over the faces of the boys at the lake. She seemed to find the entire thing hilarious. She was struck by a fit of laughter so hard at one point that she fell against a tree and couldn’t walk for at least five minutes.

“At least someone’s enjoying this,” Raistlin thought sardonically. He certainly wasn’t seeing any humor in the fact that the whole town would think he and Klea were… together.

Despite Klea’s difficulties, they managed to make it back to town in good time. They were almost instantly met with not-so-subtle stares and whispering. Klea was a bit shocked and pursed her lips.

“Wow, word travels fast here,” Klea said in an undertone to Raistlin.

“In this town, the only thing that spreads faster than gossip is the plague,” Raistlin remarked wryly. He stepped a bit closer to Klea—to keep up pretenses of course—and the two made their way past ogling groups of his neighbors.

Somewhere along the way Klea slipped her hand in Raistlin’s. He kept having to remind himself it was fake, she didn’t actually want to hold his hand. His hands were clammy so focusing on that and Klea’s obvious discomfort helped Raistlin to not get too caught up in it. It wasn’t foolproof though and after a while he forgot about it. Only when Klea slipped her hand out of his to race over to the railing to see a hawk perched in the branches not five feet away did he notice, and miss, its presence. His hand tingled and he didn’t know what to do with it anymore. What did he normally do with his hands? Put them in his pockets? He tried this but it felt unnatural so he pulled his hands back out and crossed his arms over his chest, but then he worried that she wouldn’t retake his hand afterwards so he let them fall back to his sides where his fingers danced anxiously against his robe.

The hawk flew away, apparently not taking Klea’s stare kindly. Klea turned back and walked over to Raistlin. She slipped her hand back in his—because there was a woman hanging laundry not too far off, who knows if she’d heard the rumors yet but hey, better safe than sorry right? Raistlin scolded himself as he welcomed her fingers tangling with his.

They continued walking on for a while, talking about anything and everything, until they paused on the walkway. Klea glanced around.

“Uh, are we going anywhere in particular?” she asked curiously.

Raistlin’s face dropped. He glanced around to gather his bearings. He hadn’t even been thinking about any destination or goal – he had gotten so wrapped up in just being with Klea that he completely lost touch with his environment. That’s the dangers of infatuation, he scolded himself and immediately pulled his hand away. He didn’t notice Klea’s brow furrowing as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, I suppose not,” Raistlin muttered in answer, not meeting her gaze and excusing it away by looking around his surroundings – even though he immediately recognized the area.

“Are you hungry? I’m starved! Where’s a place to eat around here?” Klea asked.

“I suppose we could go to the Inn of the Last Home,” Raistlin answered reluctantly. Hopefully the Inn wasn’t crowded at this point in the day but there would still surely be someone there and Otik was always the first to hear and spread gossip. They would have to play up their… “relationship” again and Raistlin wasn’t sure he could handle much more play-faking.

Klea noticed his hesitant tone. Of course he wouldn’t want to hang out in a tavern, the hub of gossip. It’s not like he was enjoying this little farce of theirs. She wasn’t going to force him into that anymore today. Besides, she was really craving something from the baker down the street from the shop – in Solamnia.

“No, I should really probably be getting back soon. I can grab something to eat at home,” Klea said dismissively. She pretended to ignore Raistlin’s sigh of relief. She then took on a mocking lofty tone. “But I will be a proper courter and return my gentleman to his dwelling!” She laughed and succeeded in prying a slight grin from Raistlin as well.

The two turned their steps back towards his house. They hadn’t gotten far before they ran into the only person who could completely ruin his mood. Well, alright, Sturm Brightblade could kind of do that too, but this one’s worse: Widow Judith. And to say they ran into someone isn’t an expression. Klea, in what was quickly becoming her usual fashion, ran straight into Widow Judith when coming around a corner.

“Oh! I am so sorry! I wasn’t looking--” Klea began apologetically, but at a glance from Judith her mouth snapped shut.

Judith glanced down at Klea exasperatedly at first, but her gaze quickly turned cold. It was as if she could sense that Klea was a magic user. Perhaps Klea had some pouches on her that Judith recognized as carrying spell components (except for the fact that she hadn’t yet successfully cast any spells and so wouldn’t have any components to keep on her person) or maybe she just had that sickly sweet smell of magic from the mageware shop she worked in. Or maybe Judith just had a way of _knowing_. Knowing that there was something about this girl that she found at once threatening and despicable. Maybe it was because Klea was with Raistlin. Actually, that was probably it.

“Judith,” Raistlin acknowledged her tersely.

Judith turned her imperious gaze to him.

“Raistlin, I had heard that you were gallivanting around with some trollop but to be fair I had not given the rumors much credence. I am surprised to discover the rumors true. Now I see why you are so opposed to aiding your mother during the day.”

Raistlin was incensed at the woman’s tone and insult. Klea was actually steaming.

“Trollop?!” she repeated in outrage. Raistlin moved to hold her back but for some reason Klea was set on the war path. He knew she had a short temper, she was always so quick to bite his head off at the smallest comment, but she would then go right back to laughing a second later. This was different. It was as if Judith had lit a spark that had broken out into a raging wildfire in a matter of seconds.

“Normally I can excuse insults from petulant old women, but this! At least northern women have the decency to call me names to my face! Instead of saying it to someone else as if I’m not standing right here!” Klea snapped.

Judith’s lips pressed into a firm line and her eyes narrowed.

“The young women here know to hold their tongue in matters that do not concern them,” Judith replied sharply.

Klea tilted her head. Raistlin backed away. The head tilt meant many things with Klea: when it was paired with a smirk it meant she was teasing, when combined with pursed lips it meant she was thinking, but when combined with a set jaw and drawn brows it meant trouble.

“Well then you’re certainly not from around here either!” she retorted.

Judith’s face burned.

“Witch! You would do well not to test my patience.” Judith threatened.

“This is you being patient? Hate to see when you actually lose it! But hey, that’s the first insult that’s been accurate so good on you there!” Klea remarked with scathing sarcasm.

Judith’s eyes seemed to alight with realization. She smiled, a horrible thing that more twisted her face than lightened it.

“I knew there had to be someone with hold over this boy. Now I see that it’s you. Release your control of this child! His mother is a loyal follower and shall lead her family to righteousness!” Judith ordered.

Klea scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“So your one of those. No, that makes a lot of sense. Someone this cold has to be a swindler and manipulator—taking advantage of poor souls with no hope just to fill your pockets!” Klea spat. Judith looked like she’d been struck and glanced to Raistlin nervously.

Raistlin had no idea what they were talking about but he didn’t like the sound of it. He knew Judith had to be using his mother for some kind of personal gain, but how did Klea seem to know what she was doing? Before he could ask, Judith gave them one last spiteful glare before turning and hastening away.

Klea was fuming when she turned back around to Raistlin.

“Raistlin. You need to watch that—that fiend! We have her types up in Solamnia too. They’re wicked people that brainwash and take advantage of others. Don’t listen to anything she says. If you can, try to limit her contact with your family,” Klea explained, her anger still burning behind her eyes.

“Alright,” Raistlin replied hesitantly, nervous at her words and the look in her eyes.

Klea huffed in frustration and shook her head. But her anger seemed to subside a bit. Instead she turned back to him, capturing his gaze with her own.

“Raistlin, don’t compromise who you are. People are going to try to use you, or change you telling you that everything you are is wrong and evil but don’t listen. Stand up for your beliefs and don’t let anyone turn you into something that you’re not,” Klea entreated fervently. Raistlin wasn’t sure how to respond so he simply nodded. Klea nodded with him and after a moment sighed. The tension seemed to ease out of her with her breath. “If you can do that, no one will ever be able to have power over you,” she added quietly. She paused and grinned. “Well, except me because I know all your weaknesses!”

Raistlin rolled his eyes.

“Sure you do,” he remarked sarcastically.

They set off once more, though this time with considerably less joking and teasing. It seemed to take a much shorter time than it should have to get back to the house, but soon they came up upon the small house nestled in the branches. Klea walked Raistlin to the door and the two started to say their goodbyes, but the door suddenly swung open and a woman pulled Raistlin inside by the shoulder. Before Klea could even react, the door slammed shut in her face. She hastened over to the window and peered through the half-closed shutters.

Rosamun dragged her son inside the house and spun him around to face her.

“Mother! What are you--” Raistlin began in protest but his eyes landed on the Widow Judith standing with her arms crossed and glaring at him sternly. Rosamun stared at her son with a mix of tearful pleading and angry betrayal.

“Is what she says true? Are you seeing some wicked girl?” Rosamun demanded. Raistlin gaped at her before turning to glare at Judith. He straightened and held his head high.

“I am seeing a young woman, but she is not wicked!” he retorted defensively.

“The girl has a strong hold over the boy. She is the demon swaying him to the evils of witchcraft!” Judith accused. Rosamun gasped and her hands gripped onto her son. Raistlin winced as her fingers dug into his arm and he tried to gently pry her from him.

“Raistlin! My son! You must break free from this witch’s sway! You are never to see her again!” Rosamun pleaded though her words seemed more like orders.

“What? Mother, you can’t be serious? How could you believe her?” he demanded pointing to Judith who scowled at him. Rosamun was teary-eyed and didn’t look at him when she answered.

“You have not been yourself lately. I trust Judith and what she says makes everything clear.”

Raistlin recoiled from her. Rosamun reached out but did not move to grab him once more. He shook his head, staring in shock from his mother to the widow in outrage.

“Hey! What are you doing?” a big, genial voice called behind her, making Klea jump from her spying position at the window. She turned to find Caramon meandering up to the house behind her. Not daring to speak, Klea waved him over. Caramon looked confused, but crept over to the window and listened with her. His eyebrows quickly drew down low.

“What is going on? Why are they yelling at Raist?” Caramon asked in a loud whisper, concerned. Klea shook her head.

“Because of me,” she answered quietly. Caramon glanced at her curiously at first, but then his face smoothed in realization and he blushed.

“Oh, yeah… I heard about that,” he muttered, not looking over at her.

“We have to get him out of there,” Klea said, watching as Rosamun and Judith scolded Raistlin, attacking him like vultures devouring a carcass.

“This girl is a fiend of the Abyss!” Judith declared.

“No!” Raistlin shouted angrily.

“I forbid you from seeing this girl ever again!” his mother wept.

Raistlin turned to her, eyes pleading. He had to make her understand. He couldn’t cut Klea from his life. She was the only one that actually understood him, actually cared. If his mother was thinking for herself she would be happy for him.

“I’m not the one under a witch’s hold!” Raistlin snapped at his mother. Rosamun looked like he had struck her. Her face paled and her jaw went slack. Judith glared at Raistlin but before she could respond against the accusation a godawful noise, like a dying animal, sounded from the kitchen. They all jumped and turned toward the source of the noise. Rosamun and Judith moved to investigate. Raistlin was about to follow but heard a whisper behind him.

“Psst! Raist!” Klea hissed from the window, beckoning for him to come outside. This was his chance to escape. Raistlin bolted out the door just as Rosamun was coming out of the kitchen. She wailed as she saw him disappear through the door and run past the window with Klea.

Raistlin and Klea raced away from the house like demons were on their tail. He wasn’t sure that either his mother or the widow Judith would try to chase him down—they didn’t care about him enough he thought bitterly—but they still didn’t risk looking back until they were practically on the other side of town. They stopped, breathless, on a long walkway between two vallenwoods. While the two sat trying to catch their breath they heard pounding feet coming toward them. Raistlin stirred but Klea held out her hand to stop him.

Caramon came running up to them, looking a bit disheveled but no the worse for wear. He looked to Raistlin worriedly. Klea glanced up at him curiously.

“What did you do to make that horrible noise?” she questioned.

Caramon looked sheepish.

“Actually, I was… uh, trying to cause a distraction in the kitchen, but in my attempts to climb through the window I accidentally stepped on a cat,” Caramon replied shamefacedly. He pushed up his sleeves to reveal a crisscrossing of scratch marks up and down his arms. “It attacked me, but nothing too bad.”

“Well,” Klea nodded. “It proved an excellent distraction.”

Caramon blushed at her praise but at the same time straightened up a bit proudly. When his gaze landed on Raistlin again, though, his face was instantly lined with concern.

“Raist, are you okay? What was that about? Why were they yelling at you?” he asked.

“That witch managed to convince mother that Klea was controlling me in some way. They were attempting to forbid me from seeing her,” Raistlin spat. Caramon instantly clammed up, blushing and looked away.

“Oh, yeah… I heard about… you two…” he trailed off awkwardly.

Klea glanced at Raistlin. Her raised brow indicated to him silently that she was prepared to keep up the pretenses if he wanted. Raistlin shook his head. Maybe he wanted to have someone to talk to about his confusion over Klea, maybe he just didn’t want his brother teasing him but whatever the reason Raistlin was sure that he didn’t want to have to pretend around his brother as well.

“It’s a farce,” Raistlin told his brother. Caramon quirked his head at the term. “We are pretending to be… _courting_ so that…” Raistlin trailed off, not quite knowing the proper explanation for their plan. Luckily Klea chimed in.

“So that your neighbors won’t alienate Raistlin anymore. If he has a lover, then he has the same natural desires as the rest of the townspeople and so doesn’t seem so different. People will still find him strange and be wary, but at least they’ll respect that he’s not completely inhuman and untrustworthy,” Klea explained.

“Oh,” Caramon said dully.

“But no one must know we are play-faking,” Raistlin told his brother sternly. Caramon was notoriously terrible at keeping secrets. Raistlin was beginning to regret telling him the truth, but he had to have someone who knew, if only to keep him from falling into the act. Someone to remind him that it wasn’t real. Caramon nodded solemnly, though he did so staring at Klea so Raistlin figured she was casting death-glares at his brother to cow him into submission.

“Oh, sure! My lips are sealed! As far as anyone knows, you guys are completely, head over heels, in love with each other!” Caramon said. Raistlin winced.

“Don’t oversell it, my brother.”


	7. A Means of (No) Communication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A customer at the mageware shop puts Klea and Raistlin's relationship in jeopardy, and Raistlin gets a bit confused as to what exactly their relationship is...

15th Autumn

Klea kicked the door to the back room shut behind her, her hands filled with boxes stacked up so high they rested under her chin. Walking over slowly so as not to topple her delicate tower, Klea glanced disinterestedly over at her mistress who was speaking with a red-robe.

Klea nearly dropped all of her boxes upon a double-take. They were peering through the lock box of magical rings. One of her boxes did try to jump ship and Klea fumbled hastily, rushing to the wall where she leaned a side of her tower up, freeing an arm to push the offending box back in place. Feeling like daggers were poking into her back, Klea glanced over her shoulder to find the two mages watching her, having been distracted by the sound of the boxes fumbling, her mistress glaring something awful at her. Klea grinned ruefully and hastily went over to set the boxes down near the shelves. The red-robe turned back to inspecting the rings but Mistress Evelyn continued to keep her hawk eyes fixed on Klea until her customer drew her attention back with a question.

Klea hastily began sorting through artifacts to put them on display, straining to eavesdrop on her mistress's interaction with the customer. She could not lose the teleportation ring— she would have no other way to meet with Raistlin considering he lived half a continent away! She did a pretty decent job at not drawing attention to herself as she put the artifacts on shelves— that is until she heard the dreaded words...

"Do you have any teleportation rings?" the red-robe asked. Klea stiffened, silently praying to Nuitari and Lunitari and Solinari that they happened to have another one that her mistress would pull out of thin air.

"This silver ring here," Klea's stomach dropped at her mistress's words, "will take you to any place that you can mentally picture."

"What are the limitations?" the red-robe asked, holding the ring and inspecting it cautiously.

"It can only go a few leagues within six hours before the power is drained. It will steadily turn black with each use," Mistress Evelyn explained though Klea could have just as easily answered that question. Although she had to learn the logistics the hard way.

"How much?" the red-robe asked warily. Klea accidentally knocked over a box in her stack, drawing the red-robe's curious glance and Mistress Evelyn's baleful one. Klea ducked her shoulders in apology and hastily righted the boxes. Mistress Evelyn's lips were pulled in a tight line as she kept Klea within her peripheral vision as the girl returned to placing a cursed jewelry box on a shelf.

"Teleportation rings are hard to come by," Mistress Evelyn answered shrewdly. "Fifty steel."

"Thirty," the red-robe counter-offered. Klea peeked a glance back at Mistress Evelyn whose raised brow twitched ever so slightly: she hated when people bartered.

"Forty-five," she spat.

"I can give you forty for it right now," the red-robe responded confidently. Klea suspected her mistress's eyebrows were trying to merge with her eyelashes at this point. She patiently and happily waited for her mistress to throw the arrogant mage out. Any moment now.

"It has been taking up space in my shop for some time," she drawled and Klea froze. "Deal."

Klea's insides twisted as her eyes bulged in shock. She ducked her head as she shoved things from the boxes onto the shelves as she overheard the mage handing over the steel which Mistress Evelyn of course had to count, she wasn't one noted for her trusting nature, she was a black robe after all. She finished all too soon and was bidding the mage good day. Klea cast a quick glance over at them to see the mage drop the ring into a pouch at his hip.

She had to do something and fast or she would lose her only friend! Her eyes locked onto a box of powder that descended a room into pitch darkness. Her shaking hands grabbed hold of the box just as the bell above the door chimed as the mage left. Klea quickly "dropped" the box, scattering the powder across the floor, a sight that was only visible for the briefest of moments before everything went black. Klea made a bee line down the aisle, feeling along the wall for the door as Mistress Evelyn cursed at her clumsiness from the counter. Finding the handle to the door, Klea slowly opened it a fraction, careful not to trigger the bell, and slipped outside.

The brightness of the sun struck her like a wall and her eyes teared up as she hastily glanced down and shielded her eyes from the glare. Blinking rapidly, Klea forced her stinging eyes to squint off down the street, searching for the mage. She caught sight of the red-robe to her right, not too far off. Klea hastened after the mage, though careful not to draw attention to herself. Luckily the baker was out at his street stall and the mage was lured over by the sweet aroma. Klea walked over to the stall herself, getting right up next to the mage without him giving her a second glance. The baker recognized her immediately.

"Hello, Klea! What lured you out today?" he asked kindly. The girl was partly responsible for keeping him open as she stopped by almost daily.

"Biscuits! I could just smell the butter melting," Klea grinned, deeply inhaling the aroma which, admittedly, was quite delightful... she had actually been thinking about grabbing one of those biscuits earlier.

The red-robe was inspecting the baker's different types of bread while Klea fumbled with her money pouch... or at least appeared to fumble with it.

"Hold on," she told the baker who was holding out a small basket of biscuits for her, waiting to trade it for steel.

Klea turned to supposedly look in her pouch but instead turned her attention to the pouch on the hip of the red-robe. With fingers light as a feather she plucked the flap open and retrieved the silver ring and smoothly dropped it into her own money pouch as she dug out the steel for her biscuits. Sharply pulling on the drawstring, the ring disappeared from sight and Klea handed over the steel pieces to the baker. Retrieving the biscuit from the smiling baker, Klea returned his friendly grin and headed back for the mageware shop without the red-robe suspecting a thing.

Before she even got back to the door though, she noticed the red-robe turning away from the baker's stall with a loaf of rye. A sketchy-looking kid stood at the mouth of an alley, eyes glued to the red-robe. He not-so-subtly bumped into the red-robe and continued on, a few of the red-robe’s pouches in his hand. Klea shook her head at the thief but thanked the moons that now there was no way the red-robe would suspect her.

Klea, reluctantly, gave her biscuits over to the guard outside the shop to keep her mistress from suspecting and managed to get back inside just as her mistress covered all the powder. Klea blinked rapidly—not faking too as she had just gone from pitch black to bright sun to pitch black again to shade all within about five minutes and her pupils were having a tough time catching up. Mistress Evelyn seemed to be having a similar problem as well, so it was a moment before she glanced curiously at Klea by the door.

“What are you doing over there?” she demanded.

Klea froze. But only for a second, you don’t get to become Evelyn Shaw’s prize pupil without a quick wit.

“I was trying to get to the broom to sweep it up, but I… uh… seem to have gotten a bit off track,” Klea explained as she glanced over to the broom in the corner a few feet away.

“What use would that have done? It has to be contained or covered,” Evelyn snapped as she glared down at her black robe spread out on the floor – the only thing she had large enough to cover all the spilt powder.

“Well, I thought I could sweep it up to put it back in the box,” Klea hesitated. Evelyn glared over at her, making Klea flinch. Evelyn rolled her eyes.

“Though misguided, your efforts were not completely moronic,” she sighed. Klea almost smiled. That was about as close to a compliment her mistress could get. “I would like to save the powder, it’s my last batch. But first we’ll need,” Evelyn flitted over to a shelf and plucked out a short candle from a candelabra. With a snap of her fingers she lit it. “Now we’ll be able to see in order to gather the powder.”

At another snap of Evelyn’s fingers, this time done imperiously at Klea who wasn’t moving fast enough, Klea hastened over with the broom and pan. They managed to save the powder and return it to the box, though Evelyn griped at Klea’s clumsiness the whole while. Something good did come out of it though. Since Mistress Evelyn was so peeved about Klea dropping the box, she let her off for the rest of the day because she had “done enough damage for one day.” Klea managed to save a few biscuits from the young guard outside and then promptly headed down the street. It wasn’t until she was slipping the silver ring back on that she realized that now she could visit Solace whenever she wanted. Maybe it was a good thing that red-robe had bought it after all.

* * *

Klea was waiting for him in the clearing. She was sitting on the fallen log and drawing in the dirt with a stick. She didn’t even notice Raistlin arriving until he stepped on a twig with a loud ‘SNAP’ at which her head jerked up. Her mouth split into a wide grin as she saw Raistlin walking out of the trees.

“You’re here early,” Raistlin commented.

“Yeah, I, uh, kind of forgot you had class,” she grinned ruefully but then grew excited. “So guess what!” Klea continued on without a pause for Raistlin to guess, which he never understood why people said that if they didn’t actually want you to guess but no matter. “I am no longer confined to visiting only when my mistress leaves the shop!”

“Really? How?” Raistlin asked curiously.

“Long story short, stole the ring from a mage who bought it. So now I can use it whenever!” Klea explained happily. Raistlin stared at her in shock.

“You stole the ring?” he demanded.

“Well, yeah! I couldn’t let the mage take it. Then I’d have no way of getting here,” Klea retorted. Raistlin pursed his lips. She had a point and he couldn’t exactly say he’d do anything different in her place, but still, the mage paid steel for it.

“I suppose, but it still doesn’t seem right,” Raistlin grumbled.

“Well, if it makes any difference, the mage got pickpocketed by a local thief right after I got the ring back, so he would’ve lost it anyway,” Klea shrugged. Raistlin didn’t think that made Klea’s theft right, but better that they had the ring then some Solamnic street pickpocket he supposed. Klea evidently guessed his thoughts from his stern expression and rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, since I’m no longer limited by her schedule anymore, I figured we could work out some way to communicate when it’s a good time for me to visit. You know, so I don’t pop over when you’re in class or at dinner or something. So, I brought this!” Klea pulled out a shiny bronze disk the size of a plate. She handed it out to Raistlin, who took it with a curious glance.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s a bronze disk,” she said. Raistlin glared at her.

“Well, I can see that,” he snapped. “I mean what does it do?”

“This is linked to another one, which I have at home, so that if you just do this,” Klea traced a loop on the disk and it began to glow faintly. “Then you can send messages to the other one by writing on it,” Klea then traced ‘Hi’ onto the disk where it glowed briefly before fading. “Probably should’ve brought mine to show it, but oh well.”

“So is it just written messages? And how are the two linked? Is it a spell that links them both and thus can be cast onto another one to link them all or were they made together as parts of a whole and that’s why they’re connected or—“

“I’m gonna stop you there,” Klea said, quirking an eyebrow sassily. “There’s some incantation that can send image and sound messages but I don’t know what it is, and likely at our stage it wouldn’t work anyway, so yeah, it’s only written messages. I don’t know how it works beyond that. These were given to Mistress Evelyn to sell but she threw them out because they’re apparently out of date since now any mage who’s passed his test can send a message magically. These work for us though,” Klea explained. “So you can send me a message when you want me to visit or whatever,” Klea shrugged and kind of mumbled the last bit.

She hoped that her face wasn’t turning red, as it felt very hot currently. If it was, Raistlin didn’t notice. Probably because he was facing a similar problem as he simultaneously fought back a smile and a scream at the exciting and terrifying thought of inviting Klea to visit. It was different when she just showed up unannounced, but now he had to invite her! It was so much pressure. How was he supposed to determine when to message her? When he was free? When he was lonely? When he wanted to escape Judith and his mother? When he desperately wanted to see Klea? Probably not the last one… or at least, he’d use one of the others as an excuse… Raistlin shook his head and cleared his throat.

“So what have you been up to? Besides stealing from unsuspecting mages,” Raistlin teased her. Klea smirked.

“Not much really. Just going to school, working at the shop, avoiding my suitor,” Klea remarked casually. Raistlin blanched.

“Suitor?” Raistlin gasped. He then realized that may have sounded a bit too shocked and terrified so he coughed to pass it off as a tickle in his throat.

“Yeah, my grandparents got it into their heads that I needed a _proper_ suitor to become a _proper_ Solamnic noble lady,” Klea said with mocking emphasis on ‘proper.’ She rolled her eyes. “He’s an insufferable, pompous squire that expects everyone to fawn all over him since his family comes from a distinguished line of Solamnic knights. My family keeps tricking me into seeing him; inviting me over for a family meal, but oh wait, he was just over visiting like a _proper_ nobleman and now we’re seated next to each other! Somehow he thinks there’s a chance even though I’ve stabbed him in the leg with a fork, knocked him off a horse, nearly put an arrow through his head – _accidentally_ of course,” Klea complained. She plopped down on the ground.

Raistlin sat down next to her while wishing she had actually put an arrow in his head. What? He had a right to be jealous. He was her fake lover after all! He managed to appear calm enough to ask her something he probably wouldn’t get another chance to.

“So, you’ve been in contact with your family more?”

Klea almost immediately clammed up, her face darkening. She lay back, stretching out on the ground and looking up at the sky.

“I apologize, it’s just that… that’s the first time I’ve heard you speak about your grandparents. Last time you just mentioned that you had been to the family estate… are you trying to make amends?” Raistlin prompted, looking down at her.

“I guess _they_ are, which is fitting since they’re the ones that disowned us, seems only fair that they’d be the ones to try to bring us back, but we’ve done fine on our own. My brother has embraced them, but he just wants their money and prestige. I don’t need any of it and I certainly don’t need them setting me up with some noble brat!”

“Does he know you’re training to be a mage?” Raistlin asked, laying on his back to look up at the sky next to her.

“No, and my grandparents have all but threatened me not to tell him since that would sink the match. I’ve been dropping hints though, but the boy’s so dull he hasn’t caught on yet,” Klea grumbled. “I’ll likely have to throw some bat guano and rose petals at him for him to realize!” she laughed.

“Or cast a spell on him,” Raistlin grinned.

The two spent quite some time dreaming up ways to chase off Klea’s suitor. They came up with everything from giving him a cursed artifact to bringing Caramon to Solamnia to scare him away.

“Or, I mean… we’re already play-faking a relationship to help me… we could continue it in Solamnia for you,” Raistlin offered hesitantly. He berated himself for bringing it up, but part of him was desperately hoping to continue this farce for as long as possible. It was really the only way for him to be with her, even if it was fake. At the same time he kept trying to convince himself that these desires were useless and only a distraction from his future: the magic, power.

“No offense, but me showing up with you as a suitor wouldn’t exactly put my grandparents’ concerns to rest. If anything it would just make them work even harder to find me a more ‘appropriate’ match,” Klea replied.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Raistlin sighed, doing well to hide his disappointment.

“Really, the only person that would probably work to keep my grandparents from setting up other matches… would be Sturm,” Klea said somewhat wistfully and guiltily. Raistlin seethed. “He has a good Solamnic name and acts the part of the well-mannered gentleman,” Klea continued. None of it was helping reassure Raistlin.

Of course that blasted Brightblade was a better choice. Klea probably hoped she could use Sturm much like Raistlin was using her. Except that Klea was beautiful and incredible, there was no way Sturm wouldn’t fall for her, while there was no way that she would fall for Raistlin.

Raistlin huffed.

“I should be getting back,” Raistlin said abruptly, getting to his feet. Klea sat up, frowning.

“Right, you have class,” she said. Raistlin simply nodded. Klea got to her feet and smiled. “Well, just let me know when you’re free and want to catch up.”

Raistlin tried to avoid her hug, he really wasn’t in the mood for it right now, but as always Klea got her way. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her chin into his shoulder. Raistlin loosely wrapped his arms around her in return – she wouldn’t let go until he did. Except that this time she didn’t let go even then. Raistlin’s brow furrowed in confusion, but his arms, almost of their own accord, tightened around her.

He liked having her in his arms. She was warm and soft and they just seemed to fit. It was so strange, he hated physical contact but this girl had not only gotten him accustomed to it, she had him wanting it – at least with her.

But of course, as soon as Raistlin was comfortable and wishing they could stay like that forever, Klea pulled away. She was grinning like always, cheery and friendly, oblivious to how his heart was hammering and his arms aching to hold her again.

“Goodbye,” she said, already pulling out her ring. Raistlin simply nodded and turned away. He was already into the woods when he heard the familiar ‘CRACK’ behind him.

It was just a short walk from the clearing back to the grounds of the school, where some of the boys were still loitering around. They took note of Raistlin’s approach. Some even felt comfortable or brave enough to walk into the building alongside him. Though it had been happening for a few months, Raistlin still wasn’t used to it.

They still called him Sly One and kept their distance, ever since the nettles incident, but recently things had changed. They would stare at him when they thought he wasn’t looking, or speak in hushed tones behind his back, but Raistlin was used to that, the weirdest behavior was how they didn’t avoid and ignore him. I mean, they still didn’t like him and were a bit fearful, but to some extent they were also a bit impressed—they had heard around town and some claimed to have seen firsthand that Raistlin’s new lover was quite beautiful. Klea’s plan had (regrettably) worked so well that even those who had most alienated him saw him now in a more familiar light.

As Raistlin sat down in the classroom and Master Theobald went on about some thing or other that Raistlin had already mastered, his thoughts turned inward. Klea was right. Their farce of a relationship had convinced Raistlin’s neighbors and peers that he wasn’t inhuman. Although they had supposedly achieved their goal, Raistlin wasn’t content. If anything the farce had created new, more difficult issues, the main being that Raistlin was having feelings for his best friend/fake lover. Anything he did to show her his affections would be taken as play-faking and simply further his predicament of simultaneously having the object of his desire without actually having her.

Raistlin was beginning to wonder if he should just end it all before things got even more out of hand. Before he, gods forbid, fell in love with her. He hadn’t thought himself capable of such a thing a few years ago, but now…

“Majere!” Master Theobald barked, effectively snapping Raistlin to attention. “If you’re quite done daydreaming, I asked you a question!”

“Forgive me, Master,” Raistlin apologized though he seethed at Theobald’s tone and the pleased smirks of his classmates. “What was the question?”

 

15th Winter

Raistlin sat on his bed staring at the bronze disk in his lap. He clenched his jaw as he glared at his faint reflection in the metal. He traced a loop along the disk with his finger and it glowed to life as a stream of messages flickered in glowing letters across the surface:

_My family is driving me insane, how about yours?_

_Raistlin? You all right?_

_Haven’t heard from you in a while, Judith hasn’t burned you at the stake has she?_

_Seriously, if you don’t respond I’m going to just come over there._

_So Caramon said you were alive but wouldn’t tell me where you were. Are you avoiding me?_

_Worst fake courtship ever. You know I have the chance at a real one, I’ll take it if you don’t respond._

_Raistlin, what in the Abyss!_

That was just the beginning. There were a lot more complaints and a whole lot more threats, some of which were gruesomely vivid and creative.

He had been avoiding her for the past few weeks. Not because he no longer liked her, but because he feared he liked her too much. On her last visit, he had had trouble keeping the lines between reality and fantasy clear, falling into the comfortable state of being with her and forgetting that it wasn’t real. He had revealed some of his misgivings to his brother, but Caramon hadn’t been of any use as he didn’t see where Raistlin was having an issue. The only person that would actually understand Raistlin’s problem was the one person he couldn’t talk to about it!

He desperately wanted to talk to her. Desperately wanted to respond and tell her to come to Solace now. But that was the problem. If he couldn’t even control himself enough to resist the temptation of a pretty face how could he control the magic and resist the temptations of darkness? No. This was as much to prove to himself that he deserved the power he sought as much as it was to avoid the feelings he didn’t understand.

Raistlin traced a loop on the disk and the glow and messages faded away.


	8. Navigation Maneuvers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raistlin is still avoiding Klea and that's putting Caramon on the front lines of warding her off. With this position though, Caramon may be the only one able to see both sides and do something about their current predicament.

15th Spring

The bronze disk was wrapped in a cloak and stuffed at the bottom of a locked trunk whose key was in Caramon’s possession (and so at this point was probably lost). So far, this was the only successful way Raistlin was able to resist the temptation of responding to Klea’s numerous messages. The solution was found after a particularly difficult day found Raistlin on the verge of inviting Klea over in which he undoubtedly would have done something incredibly stupid like admitting his feelings to her.

“She’s not smiling at me, Raist,” Caramon nudged his brother with a nod to a girl walking towards them. Raistlin looked up absentmindedly to find the girl smiling shyly and looking straight at him. Their eyes met and the girl hastily looked away with a slight giggle and blush. Raistlin’s face burned and he also looked away, from the girl as well as his brother’s teasing grin.

“Shut up,” Raistlin muttered. Caramon shook his head, even as he cast a wink to the girl as they passed.

“I don’t get it, it’s not like you’re actually seeing anyone,” Caramon complained.

“Keep your voice down, my brother! Someone might overhear,” Raistlin snapped, glancing around quickly to make sure no one was within earshot.

“Aw come on! Why are you keeping up the play-faking? It worked, didn’t it? Everyone’s friendlier to you, especially the girls,” Caramon grinned suggestively. Raistlin tried in vain to ignore him. “Plus, you’re not even seeing Klea at all anymore, pretend or otherwise! You’ve got plenty of offers now, might as well take one up, or a couple.”

Raistlin scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“You’re quite the romantic, my brother,” he remarked sarcastically. Caramon apparently caught it this time as he sighed.

“I’m just saying, you’re missing opportunities for something real.”

Raistlin had to admit his brother was right. For the first time, Raistlin was presented with real opportunities for a relationship. He had actually gotten a bit overwhelmed by the attention from girls lately. Of course, it was nowhere near the attention Caramon got, but a couple girls smiling at him a week was considerably more than before when they would actively ignore him. After being cornered by a girl who got a bit handsy the other week, Raistlin wasn’t entirely sure which situation he preferred.

“Maybe you should just give up the play-faking,” Caramon suggested with a surreptitious glance over at his brother to judge his reaction. Raistlin’s jaw clenched but Caramon couldn’t tell what that meant so he pressed further. “Or just see her for real if you like her in that way…” he trailed off.

“What? Of course not! I like her as a friend, nothing more! Plus she’s from a noble Solamnic family, it would never work!” Raistlin wasn’t quite sure why he added on the last part as it kind of defeated the purpose of his denial, but Caramon apparently didn’t pick up on it. He clung to the first half of Raistlin’s response and tuned out after “as a friend” with a smile that he had some difficulty hiding. Raistlin didn’t notice though as he was too busy berating himself for nearly slipping and admitting his feelings for Klea—if Caramon knew how he truly felt he would most certainly try to interfere.

* * *

“And you have no idea where he could be?” Klea, arms crossed, narrowed her eyes at the hulking boy blocking the door. Caramon shifted on his feet uncomfortably and doggedly refused to meet her eyes. This wasn’t the first time she had confronted him about his brother and he had learned pretty quick that he couldn’t withstand her piercing glare.

“Uh, nope! No clue,” Caramon replied, rubbing the back of his neck and looking anywhere and everywhere but at the small girl glowering in the doorway.

Klea didn’t believe him. Not one bit. Caramon was covering for his brother and had been for the past couple weeks. She had gotten pretty close to cracking the big guy a couple times but he had evidently learned to avoid her gaze.

“Well, if that’s all, I’m just going to go,” Caramon said hurriedly and tried to shut the door, but Klea stuck her arm out against the door blocking it.

“No, you’re going to help me look for him.” It wasn’t a request. Caramon was so startled he made the mistake of glancing at her. Klea’s gaze was so stern that he was instantly cowed. Caramon heaved a tremulous sigh and stepped outside with her.

Klea grabbed a hold of the front of Caramon’s shirt and took off, dragging him behind her. Caramon jumped to catch up and his long strides quickly put him even with her so she wasn’t so much leading him anymore. She therefore thankfully released his shirt, which Caramon immediately smoothed out.

“So, uh, where do you want to start?” Caramon asked hesitantly. He was really worried that he would give up Raistlin’s location on accident. If he could just follow along behind Klea he hoped to avoid leading her straight to him.

“I don’t know,” Klea said and stopped as they came to a fork. “Which way should we go?” she asked Caramon.

Caramon froze. He glanced down each walkway as if contemplating, but he knew which one took them to Raistlin.

“Um, maybe left?” Caramon offered in a tone he hoped sounded like he genuinely didn’t know.

Klea nodded. She then took off down the right.

Caramon sighed before hastening after her. This would be a bit trickier than he thought.

“You know, maybe he’s at the Inn of the Last Home. We can check there first!” Caramon offered (un)helpfully. Klea rolled her eyes.

“First of all, Caramon, I know you know where he is and are thus going to try to lead me where he’s not. Second of all, this is Raistlin we’re talking about. It’s lunch time, so the inn’s going to be crowded, and your brother’s not exactly a people person,” Klea replied with a smirk.

Caramon groaned.

“What does it even matter? Your play-faking worked, you don’t really have to keep it up anymore,” he commented. Klea immediately stopped. Caramon briefly caught her expression which was like she had just been slapped. She quickly covered it up though and continued walking, though not as briskly now.

“He’s my friend, I still want to talk to him,” Klea retorted, but it didn’t have its usual playfully teasing tone.

“Well, he’s been really busy lately. Maybe he just doesn’t have the time to hang out?” Caramon suggested. He hadn’t really expected Klea to react like she had and was worried that he had hurt her feelings in some way, though he wasn’t sure how. She was just pretending to have feelings for Raistlin right?

“Maybe…” Klea muttered, unconvinced. “But it feels like he’s purposely avoiding me.”

“No!” Caramon’s refute was half-hearted at best. After all, he knew she was right, Raistlin was avoiding her, Caramon just didn’t know why.

Klea didn’t reply but continued on. They walked along the walkway for a while in silence until they came to another point where the walkway split off. Klea simply looked up to him for his choice.

Caramon really thought about this one. With the last fork he had chosen the one that took them away from where Raistlin was, but she had seen through that and chosen the other path. Maybe she would keep expecting him to try to lead her away and so take the opposite of whatever he said. So, maybe, if he chose the one that actually led to Raistlin she would pick the opposite again. Though now Caramon was even doubting why he was helping Raistlin avoid Klea.

“Left,” he said definitively and looked to her confidently. Klea actually smirked up at him before heading off down the leftward walkway. Caramon was left flat-footed and it took him a second of gaping after her before he rushed after her. “Wait! What are you doing? You pick the opposite of what I say!”

“Yeah, but I knew you picked up on that and so would pick the right path next time expecting me to go with the opposite. I know you’re not stupid, Caramon,” Klea explained, grinning.

Caramon had to smile back. Not only was her smile infectious, but she also didn’t think him dumb like most everyone else did. Why on Krynn was Raistlin avoiding this girl?

“This goes towards the river right?” Klea asked with a glance up at him.

“Yeah,” Caramon answered before hastily looking away from her, realizing that he had been watching her for several moments. “You seem to be getting to know Solace pretty well,” he commented casually.

“Yeah, well I’ve had quite a bit of time of wandering around here by myself,” Klea remarked with a rueful smirk. Caramon’s smile fell a bit at that. He was beginning to get mad at his brother for so clearly hurting Klea’s feelings like this. What could possibly be Raistlin’s reason for avoiding this pretty, funny girl?

“Well, if Raistlin’s avoiding you—which I’m not saying he is, you did—why not just—“

“Take the hint?” Klea interrupted.

“No!” Caramon exclaimed horrified. “I mean, don’t be so hung up on him. Instead of coming here and searching for him you could actually have fun,” he fumbled through his clarification and sighed, hoping she understood what he was trying to say anyway. Klea glanced over at him for a moment before half-grinning.

“Any suggestion for how I would have fun here?” she teased and playfully ran into him. Caramon was more taken aback that she hadn’t yelled at him so when she bumped him he actually lost his balance a bit. Klea laughed at that which made Caramon grin a big dopey grin.

“Um, I don’t know…” he chuckled.

“You just said I should have fun and you don’t have any suggestions?” she challenged.

“I know… but I don’t know what you do for fun,” Caramon retorted defensively. “I like to play games but Raistlin thinks that’s stupid and prefers to read or mess with plants, and you are _his_ friend, so…” Caramon trailed off teasingly.

“Reading can be fun, but I like games too! So what kind of games do you play, like Kender Keep Away or what?” Klea laughed.

“That’s for kids!” Caramon declared.

“You’re telling me you don’t still play Kender Keep Away?” she quirked a brow up at him. Caramon sighed.

“I mean, sometimes,” he admitted in defeat.

“It’s a fun game! But if not that, then what _mature_ games do you play?” Klea laughed.

“They’re mostly war games,” Caramon began hesitantly, but Klea didn’t even blink an eye, so he continued, “though we’d need to find more people. We could go down to the ground and probably a find a group.”

“Lead the way,” Klea gestured toward the path in front of her.

Caramon led her to the nearest set of stairs and down to the paths beneath the vallenwoods. Their conversation was much more light-hearted now as if to match the switch in tone of their current mission. Klea joked with him and although several of them went over his head he was just happy to see her enjoying herself. And although protecting his brother wasn’t really his plan anymore, Caramon had successfully distracted her from finding Raistlin.

They found Sturm and several other kids rather quickly, though they were already playing a game, so Caramon and Klea sat down to wait for them to finish before joining next game. Sturm noticed them early on and nodded to Caramon, but seemed a bit surprised by seeing Klea there with him—so surprised in fact that he didn’t even see a guy coming straight for him until the boy slammed into his chest and took him down. Klea and Caramon, after assessing that Sturm wasn’t injured, had a tough time smothering their laughter. Aside from his face reddening, Sturm was no worse for wear and continued with the game. When it was finished, he was the first to come over to meet them.

“Caramon. My lady,” he greeted both, though with a bow of the head to Klea which she smirked at (a considerable improvement from her nonsensical babbling at their earlier run-ins). “Forgive me for being rude, but what are you _two_ doing here?” he asked in the politest tone he could, but even Caramon caught the slight emphasis on ‘two’ as Sturm was baffled by their being together, namely on their own without Raistlin.

“Waiting to get in on the next game,” Klea answered smoothly. Sturm cocked his head and studied the girl, but after a moment of thought he apparently dismissed any doubts and nodded. He was still curious though and this time addressed Caramon.

“Is your brother well?” Sturm asked, his voice a bit tight as he clearly wasn’t asking because he was concerned for Raistlin’s health.

“Oh, uh, yeah, he’s fine, just busy,” Caramon fumbled to answer. He cast nervous glances to Klea, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring firmly at the ground, her clenched jaw twitching. Sturm also cast a glance to the girl but didn’t know what to make of her expression. He assumed the couple had had a spat and moved on from the subject.

“Well, we were just about to begin another round of Thane Under the Mountain if you would like to join?” Sturm offered.

“Actually, I was wondering if you know how to play Dragon’s Hoard?” Klea asked. Everyone’s interest was instantly piqued by the word ‘dragon’ and stepped closer. Caramon and Sturm both shook their heads. “It’s mostly a strategy game. One side is good dragons, one side is bad dragons but both sides have a hoard of treasure, typically a piece of cloth. Both sides want to take the other side’s treasure and return it to their territory to increase their stash,” Klea explained, and when she didn’t find any dazed expressions she continued on. She grabbed up a stick and drew a line in the dirt across the field. “Once you step into enemy territory you can be captured if an enemy tags you. Your friends can free you if they can get to you and tag you again—then you both have to walk back to your territory. However, the ultimate goal is stealing the treasure as once one side gets it to their territory, game over.”

“I thought you said this needed strategy? Sounds simple to me,” one boy laughed. Sturm didn’t.

“So does war if you explain it like that,” he said sternly, which instantly shut the other boy up. “Sounds like fun,” Sturm said to Klea with a grin.

“Alright, first we have to divide into teams,” she announced. “Just to make it simple and fair,” she began and then counted everyone by twos. “Ones, you’re with me, twos with Brightblade!”

Caramon headed over to Sturm’s side conflicted. While Sturm was great at strategy, Klea knew what she was doing and Caramon didn’t doubt she already had a few tried and proven plans. He eventually shook it off because as long as the game was fun he didn’t much care if he won or not.

Sturm laid out the initial plan—quick strikes into their territory to test the defenses before an all-out blitz for the treasure. Everyone nodded and assembled, waiting for Klea to announce the start of the game. Sturm, though, moved over to Caramon.

“What is going on between you and Klea?” he asked in a low voice.

“What do you mean?” Caramon asked, confused.

“You and she appear quite comfortable together,” Sturm commented with a knowing look, as if this explained his purpose fully. Caramon had no idea what he was getting at. Unless Sturm was trying to find out more about her?

“She’s fun,” Caramon shrugged in response, but then looked at Sturm curiously. “Why do you care? Are you jealous? Do you like her?” Caramon asked, grinning a bit. Sturm stared at him, shocked.

“I may not particularly like your brother but I would never carry on with the lady he’s courting, and frankly I’m shocked that you are!” Sturm berated, though still keeping his voice down so as to avoid anyone overhearing. Caramon stared at him dumbfounded for a moment before the meaning of Sturm’s words hit him—as well as the fact that he nearly blew their fake relationship.

“Oh! You think we—oh no! I’m not _carrying on_ with her! Sturm? How could you think I’d do that to Raist?” Caramon exclaimed, a bit hurt at the insinuation as well as the fact that it kind of hit close to home as he did have feelings for Klea. His outburst was less discreet than Sturm had been and a couple people turned their heads. Klea gave Caramon a curious look across the field but he turned back to Sturm. “I’m not doing anything like that with her and I wasn’t meaning that you were gonna steal her away from Raist or anything like that. I just thought—you seemed like you liked her, and maybe she won’t always be with Raist.” As soon as he said it he realized that was exactly the wrong thing to say. It also didn’t help that that last part was overheard by a couple other boys who ambushed him with questions.

“What do you mean?”

“Did they get in a fight?”

“I haven’t seen them together in a while,”

“Is she going to be available anytime soon?”

“Enough!” Sturm silenced them all, and with a stern glare sent them back to their positions. He then turned on Caramon looking for answers. But thank all the gods that at that moment Klea shouted:

“Game’s on!”

So in keeping with Sturm’s battle plan, and to avoid further questioning, Caramon raced over to test Klea’s team’s defenses… and almost immediately got caught. He spent much of the rest of the game captured as any rescue attempts were foiled by Klea’s defensive line-up. This did give Caramon a lot of time to analyze the game.

Sturm’s strategy was not paying off well as most of his team was captured in blitz attempts at the flag. Klea’s team was much more patient and thus no one had gotten caught yet though they had crossed over a couple times. Sturm made a mad dash for the flag, leaving only one boy left to defend their own, and while three of Klea’s defenders moved in to stop him two of her team went over to Sturm’s side. The lone defender chased after them trying to catch them, but Caramon saw that that was the plan all along. While the two boys led the defender away from the flag Klea darted over and stole it and was halfway back before the guy noticed he’d been tricked.

Klea trotted up triumphantly to her cheering team with the flag as Sturm looked on, disappointed but a bit impressed. After a round of congratulations to the winners, Sturm’s team was calling for a rematch (though some of them were calling for new teams hoping to be on Klea’s winning one). Sturm apparently learned his lesson and prepared a more defensive strategy which resulted in a much longer and more enjoyable game in which Caramon did not spend the entire ten minutes captured. It was a close game… but Klea still ended up winning.

Everyone was exhausted by the end though, and Klea and Caramon bid goodbye to the others as everyone wandered off to their own devices.

“So… one guy asked if I was finished with the Sly One yet. Another asked me to get supper with him. And another said he was glad I finally broke free of whatever spell the mage had cast on me,” Klea remarked with a pointed tone. Caramon became fascinated by the leaves in the trees. Until Klea’s glare had nearly burnt a hole in him that is.

“Yeah, so, I might have almost blown your whole fake relationship thing,” he answered hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I kind of figured,” Klea smirked. She didn’t say anything after that and Caramon wasn’t sure what to say. So he probably said the worst thing he could have.

“I mean, I didn’t say much but they noticed that you two hadn’t been together in a while so maybe it’s for the best?” Caramon blurted out. Klea looked like she’d been slapped and Caramon instantly felt horrible. She tried to grin but it came out more as a grimace and it was then that Caramon realized that Klea actually liked Raistlin… for real.

“Maybe it is,” she said in what was either a laugh or a cry but probably a mix of the two. Caramon felt sick to his stomach.

“Nah! This won’t last long, once it gets around that I was the one who started this people will stop believing it because everyone knows I’m dumb,” Caramon exclaimed in too-casual tone which clearly showed he didn’t believe what he was saying.

“Not dumb, but a terrible liar,” Klea grinned up at him. That made him feel a bit better, but not by much.

Klea wasn’t in the mood to explore much after that so she disappeared with a pop back to Solamnia, leaving Caramon determined to fix Klea and Raistlin’s relationship.

* * *

“Uh, Raist?” Caramon began hesitantly, popping his head into the room.

Raistlin was hunched over a book, intent on his studies, so he did not appreciate being interrupted.

“What is it my brother?” he snapped over his shoulder. Caramon winced but continued on.

“I tried to get rid of her, but… you know I’m awful at lying,” Caramon apologized. Before Raistlin could question him, the door swung open fully and he blanched.

Klea stood glowering; eyebrow quirked, lips pursed, arms crossed over her chest, hip stuck out. Even though everything about her expression and posture warned Raistlin he was in for it, he couldn’t help but think how beautiful she looked. It was just then that he realized the full extent to which he had longed to see her.

“So, you’re alive then,” Klea snapped. “I can fix that.” She began rolling up her sleeve and stepping towards him, but Caramon intercepted her. He gave her a stern look, to which she responded with a murderous glare. Raistlin really shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of the tiny girl staring down his giant brother.

His laughter drew their attention. Caramon looked at him in confusion while Klea simply shot daggers. Raistlin waved away his brother.

“Caramon, thank you, but I think I can handle it,” Raistlin chuckled. Caramon gave him a concerned look, but eventually exited the room, leaving Raistlin alone with Klea.

She glared at him from the doorway for a few more moments before stepping inside. She opened her mouth, probably to begin her tirade, but Raistlin stopped her.

“I apologize,” he said.

Her mouth shut with a ‘click!’

He gulped and hesitated. He desperately wanted to tell her the truth, tell her about his feelings, his confusion. But instead…

“I misplaced my bronze disk at school. I strongly suspect that a classmate took it to use as a plate,” he explained smoothly. Dang he was good at lying. Klea began to retort but Raistlin stopped her once more. “Why did I tell Caramon to send you away? I was afraid. Of your undoubted anger over this and the fact that you were right.”

“I was what?” Klea asked.

“You were right. Your plan worked, a bit too well actually. And to be honest, I don’t like admitting when I’m wrong,” Raistlin answered.

“Really? I had no idea,” Klea replied sarcastically. Raistlin rolled his eyes. Klea smirked a bit. “So are the girls trailing you now?”

“Yes… and I don’t know how to handle it,” Raistlin admitted uneasily. That part at least was true. Klea’s brow furrowed.

“Well, do you want to end the farce?” Klea suggested hesitantly.

“No!” Raistlin answered a bit too quickly. “I mean… it’s not like I want any of them… and I wouldn’t know how to dissuade them. This works as a good excuse,” he struggled through an explanation. Again, this wasn’t untrue… he didn’t want any of the other girls, he wanted her. Although to be honest that was what scared him most of all.

“Uh, guys,” Caramon poked his head in, rousing Raistlin from his terrifying realizations. “Looks like Judith and Mother are on their way home.”

Raistlin and Klea turned to each other with identical looks of panic. Raistlin shot to his feet and Caramon hastened to move out of the doorway to let them escape but everyone was frozen by the sound of voices coming nearer. Klea hastily ducked behind Raistlin’s desk just as Rosamun and Judith walked right past the window heading for the front door. Raistlin gave Caramon a look, to which his brother nodded and he left, shutting the door behind him. Klea stood up and the two could hear Caramon distract—ahem, greeting the two women as they entered the house.

Klea climbed out the window, with Raistlin right behind her, but his foot got caught on the edge of the windowsill and he would have landed flat on his face had Klea not caught him. He stumbled to his feet a bit embarrassed but when he looked up to see Klea struggling to contain her laughter he couldn’t help but chuckle at his clumsiness.

“What was that? Is your brother here?” Rosamun’s faint voice drifted out, causing Klea to glare at Raistlin for making a sound. She then grabbed his hand and dragged him after her as she sped off and away, Caramon’s excuses to his mother fading away as they got distance from the house.

Klea kept running even as they got so far that they could no longer even see Raistlin’s house. Raistlin was actually getting winded and had to force her to stop so he could catch his breath in racking gasps. Klea just paced a bit, nervously, before turning on him, still wheezing.

“What in the Abyss, Majere? Silence is the number one rule of sneaking out! You almost got me tried and hanged for witchcraft!” Klea raved.

“Forgive me, this is the first time I’ve escaped my own house through a window,” Raistlin snapped when he could get in enough air in his lungs. Klea was about to go off on him again but paused.

“You’ve never had to climb out your window before?” she asked curiously.

“No! The only times I’ve ever had to escape my house at all have been with you!” he retorted. “Though I’m not surprised to learn that this is a habit for you,” he continued in a half chuckle half cough.

“Yeah well, when you’ve got a stuck up suitor making surprise house calls, you get pretty adept at finding escape routes,” Klea laughed. “My parents probably believe me to be a skilled mage already with all my vanishing acts!”

Raistlin laughed, but it was tight, as his chest always seemed to constrict when she mentioned her suitor… or when she mentioned Sturm… or even Caramon… really when she talked about any other guy Raistlin was struck with this horrible mix of fear and anxiety and jealousy. He really hated it, especially because he really had no right to be jealous. She could talk about whomever she liked, it’s not like she was actually dating anyone. And with that Raistlin was all laughed out, he couldn’t even pretend anymore. Now he simply scolded himself for being so ridiculously bitter over all this.

“Well, you’re out of the house now… where would you like to go?” Klea asked with a grin. Raistlin’s stomach seemed to answer her as it grumbled. Raistlin grinned a bit sheepishly.

“I haven’t had lunch yet, but I also didn’t bring any money with me as we left in a hurry,” Raistlin admitted wryly.

“You’re just in luck! I stopped by my favorite bakery before heading over here and grabbed a couple sandwiches,” Klea announced, pulling two wrapped bundles from her bag.

“Why did you grab two? You didn’t know you’d find me today,” Raistlin commented and then realized that he probably shouldn’t have because Klea’s smile tightened at the last part. Raistlin’s stomach dropped. He hadn’t realized he had hurt her—well, he suspected someone would be hurt by being avoided by a friend, but Klea just seemed like she wasn’t affected by… feelings. Apparently she was just as human as he was.

“What makes you think I got it for you? This was supposed to be my afternoon snack,” she said in regards to the sandwich she handed over to him. Raistlin couldn’t help but laugh and Klea joined in.

She was glad to see him laugh, it showed that things could still be comfortable between them despite… well, whatever had been going on with Raistlin. She knew he lied to her about losing the disk, she wasn’t stupid. Though she didn’t know why he lied to her about avoiding her, or even why he had been avoiding her in the first place. But she didn’t want to start a fight and push him further away. She wanted things to go back to normal… their being friends, pretending to be something more… okay, that wasn’t what she wanted anymore, but she’d take it over him avoiding her any day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two are just lying to themselves and each other. That will come around to bite them eventually... like maybe next chapter, but at least Caramon can see what's going on and is trying to do something about it, cause these two are too stubborn to do anything on their own! Next chapter we get to some big events in Raistlin's life as we kind of catch up to the events of Soulforge (as all of this previously has basically been the time in between that was skipped over in that book) and that's when things get moving with my story too as it weaves in and out of canon and we get ever closer to these two maybe admitting their feelings? (or maybe not, with these two, they may never admit their real feelings-- I'm just kidding, I wouldn't lead you guys on like that... well maybe... no seriously it'll happen eventually if I have to force them)  
> Thank you to those who left comments! That's actually what motivated me to get back to working on this story, it was really the motivation I needed.


	9. Loose Lips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klea has to manage her insufferable family without her best friend as Raistlin goes back to ignoring her, but he may have some valid excuses this time.

16th Summer

It seemed she had been a bit premature in expecting everything to go back to normal with Raistlin. After that day a few weeks ago when Caramon had let her in to see Raistlin, she had caught up with him a couple more times before Caramon was back at the door, now a reluctant security measure. In spite, Klea had gone off with Caramon a couple times hoping Raistlin would feel left out or jealous, but no such luck. So she’d given up, at least on making the effort. If Raistlin wanted to be friends with her she’d let him make the effort for once.

The awful, sneering voice in the back of her head told her that he didn’t want to be her friend; that was the whole point of him avoiding her! Klea fervently hoped the cruel voice wasn’t right.

Especially if it meant she had to spend more time here. In Solamnia. With… ugh, _them_.

Her brother was positively beaming at the praise their grandparents had just finished doling out to him. Tereus, or “Ter” as she had once affectionately called her older brother before he became a pompous brat and the nickname became a way to spite him, had insisted that they stay with their grandparents at the family manor. He played it off like it was a sensible visit—there was a tourney coming up and so he needed to train more to prepare for it and the family manor was closer to his master and had training grounds he could use—but it was really just an excuse for him to suck up to the old money bags and start getting used to a life of nobility. It also conveniently trapped Klea into more frequent visits from her suitors.

Yes, suitors, plural. Apparently word had gotten out that the wealthy and respected uth Wyndar family had a new, beautiful, eligible young heiress. As the daughter of the long-lost Helene, eldest daughter of the uth Wyndar family, she was second in line to inherit the family’s business and wealth—making her the best catch of the season. This really didn’t help her relationship with her cousins—whom she had never even known existed before a couple years ago—who didn’t appreciate being bumped down the inheritance chain. They were pretentious anyway so Klea didn’t see it as that great a loss.

So while Tereus trained for the tourney and was lauded as the golden grandchild, Klea was subjected to an endless stream of arrogant nobleman, each more sickeningly obsequious than the last.

The current catch of the day was just about the daintiest eater Klea had ever seen, cutting up every bit of food until it was the size of a fingernail before putting it in his mouth and chewing for five minutes straight. Klea was so baffled by it that she spent the entire dinner just staring at his utensils as they delicately sliced into meat and vegetable alike silently. She couldn’t have even told you his name but she could tell you how many times he cut a carrot: twenty-three.

“Klea, _close_ your mouth at the dinner table!” her grandmother hissed in a whisper. Klea hadn’t realized she’d been gaping, her mouth wide open. She snapped it shut and tried to focus on her own plate but there wasn’t much left at this point so she just kind of pushed around bits of fat while watching the young man turn his meal into mouse-sized bites. She could feel her grandparents’ glares but she ignored them, it was just too fascinating.

Tereus excused himself before the man was even finished—yes, man, he was at least ten years older than Klea—claiming he needed to retire early as he was waking at the break of dawn to train. Klea rolled her eyes and pretended to gag. It was such a lie, Tereus was trying to escape the never-ending dinner and sneak out of the house to go off with his friends around town. Of course Tereus never got caught sneaking out but Klea couldn’t take one step off the grounds without a servant swooping in and bringing her to meet another suitor.

After the longest dinner of her life, Klea tried to escape before her grandparents tore into her, but the man took forever at the door too so she was forced to stay to bid him farewell. As soon as the door shut Klea tried race to the stairs but her grandmother latched her talon-like fingernails into Klea’s shoulder and held her back.

“What is the matter with you? I would have expected your parents to have taught you some manners! That young man comes from the third wealthiest family in this city, you cannot gawk at him like a circus performer!” Margrit scolded in her high-pitched whine of a voice—how Klea’s grandfather had dealt with that noise all these years she had no idea.

“Klea, you must understand,” her grandfather began in that patient tone that was just as aggravating as his wife’s whine, “These dinners may be tiring but they are essential for finding you a suitable match. You could at least give them a chance, the young men are just as uncomfortable as you are.”

Klea rolled her eyes.

“Good!” she blurted out before she could stop herself. Her grandfather frowned at her while her grandmother began turning red. Klea knew she had just started a losing battle but at this point there was no stopping it so she might as well air out all her grievances. “Hopefully they’ll be so uncomfortable they’ll give up and leave me alone! I don’t care how much money they have or how prestigious their family is, I don’t want to marry any of these pompous noblemen you parade in front of me. I am not a mild-mannered noblewoman and will never be, I am a mage!”

Before her grandparents could respond or have a heart attack, Klea bolted up the stairs. She could hear her grandmother shrieking at her all the way but she didn’t care. They wouldn’t chase after her and even if they did, she had another escape plan in her pocket.

Klea grinned wickedly at the thought of her grandparents’ faces seeing her simply pop out of existence. They would probably burn the house down to get rid of all traces of magic if they survived the horror of witnessing it. Her grandmother would probably scream herself to an early grave—well, not that early, but they were still in pretty decent shape despite their age.

Bolting her bedroom door behind her, just in case, Klea finally stopped to breathe. She had worked herself up with that speech and then the flight to her room had really done her in. The heat in her face began to cool but she could still feel every thundering heartbeat. She hated that her grandparents could get to her so. She pretended like she didn’t care about any of it, like nothing affected her, but it did, everything did. From the way her suitors gave both her and the manor the same appraising look to how her grandparents flinched when she mentioned anything related to magic, it all felt like a dagger to the chest. These people saw her as only a trophy to be won or a shame to the family name—there was only one person who actually saw her for what she was and he wasn’t speaking to her!

Klea glared at the bronze disk sitting on her nightstand—visible in case he should contact her… he didn’t. She snatched it up and stomped over to the window, throwing it open. She pulled the bronze disk back in her hand, ready to hurl it into the night, preferably the pond where it would sink never to be found or the stone steps where it might crack into pieces.

But she stopped.

Glaring at the as-always blank disk, she threw it, but not out the window. The disk bounced off a chair and clattered across the floor. Part of her had still hoped it would break. Another part was thankful it didn’t.

* * *

“Breathe in, Mother,” Raistlin pleaded gently, wafting spirits of hartshorn to her nose and mouth. Rosamun did not respond, simply stared blankly ahead, seeing what, Raistlin knew not. He tried not to gag at the smell but it was strong—Rosamun didn’t seem to notice. Raistlin finally gave up, set the cup down, and put his head in his hands.

He had tried everything he knew and taken the advice of neighbors, hence the hartshorn, but nothing would wake Rosamun from her trance. Gillon’s death had sent her into one so deep that she could hear no one, no matter how loved or desperate the voice was. Raistlin had been taking care of her, trying to force her to eat but she could not swallow, dripping water into her mouth but only drops lest she choke on it, cleaning her as her bodily functions continued, and talking to her. He told her about the pranks pulled by the boys at school, his herb garden and studies, his hopes and dreams, and especially stories of Klea.

“Raist?” Caramon opened the door cautiously. He was standing in the doorway, loathe to enter the room, holding a plate filled with food. “You haven’t eaten anything.”

“I am fine my brother,” Raistlin returned wearily.

“You need to eat something, to keep your strength up.” He stepped into the room to set the plate down in front of Raistlin before quickly returning to the doorway.

“I suppose you are right, my brother,” Raistlin sighed and nibbled at the food. He could feel Caramon hovering behind him, watching to see how much he ate, being disappointed at his brother’s lack of appetite.

“Raist,” Caramon began hesitantly. Raistlin turned to him. Caramon seemed to struggle with the words, whether finding the right ones or deciding if he should say them at all Raistlin couldn’t tell. But he waited patiently for his brother to continue. Caramon took in a deep breath. “Maybe you should… talk to Klea… tell her… maybe she could help…” he trailed off as Raistlin’s jaw set.

Raistlin turned his face away from his brother and looked at his mother, though he wasn’t really seeing her. He was seeing a brown-haired girl with bright eyes and a playful smirk. He shook his head.

“I do not…” Raistlin’s voice broke and he cleared his throat to continue. “I do not wish to burden her with this… besides it is likely there is nothing she could do,” Raistlin’s voice faltered on the last line—if there was nothing Klea could do, was there anything he could? Could anyone do anything or was he simply deluding himself? Prolonging the inevitable.

“But there might—“ Caramon continued helpfully but Raistlin cut him off.

“I said ‘no’ Caramon!” Raistlin interrupted curtly. It came out a bit harsher than intended, but Raistlin didn’t apologize. Caramon simply ducked his head and shut the door behind him, leaving Raistlin in the room with their mother.

Rosamun began to make guttural noises, grunts and moans like she was trying to speak but could only make the sounds not shape them. Raistlin rushed to her side, taking her hand.

“Mother? What is it?” he called to her, begging for this to be a sign. But Rosamun did not respond, simply smiled a ghastly smile that made Raistlin’s heart ache. Her eyes moved as she watched whatever it was only she could see. She did not notice or recognize the pleading face of her son before her.

Raistlin dropped his head onto the bed, tears leaking from his eyes. He shuddered to control his breathing, but with a large exhale he lifted his head and tried for a gentle smile.

“Did I tell you about the time Klea and I got lost and had to climb a tree to figure out where we were? Can you imagine _me_ climbing a tree, Mother? It is amusing now, but at the time I could not have been more perturbed. Though Klea wasn’t much better than I. She kept stepping on my hands when we were climbing down…”

* * *

Klea thought someone should invent a door that rotates-- that would make the flow of visitors in and out of the manor easier to handle. Though of course if it was up to Klea, no one would ever be allowed through the door, just rolled right back out. As if the suitors weren’t bad enough, her brother’s friends came to the manor to “train” though Klea hardly ever saw them actually practicing for the tourney. More often than not they simply swiped a bottle of spirits and took turns hurling their glasses into the air and trying to shoot them with bow and arrow.

How anyone could call the young men “noble” Klea could not figure out. She only saw them as boorish, and pretty poor shots. Hardly any of them could hit the broad side of a barn sober let alone a crystal goblet drunk. Yet they still jeered each other mercilessly after each miss and then proudly proclaimed they would not miss… only to miss and the cycle repeated itself.

Klea was on the garden wall, studying her books—her grandparents may have thought they took her away from her school in Palanthas but Klea still had a way to get to lessons despite the distance—when the pack of boys staggered outside. Klea swore under her breath as they settled in the courtyard, right in front of the door, effectively trapping her outside with them. She could always walk around to the front entrance, but it was hot and Klea really didn’t feel like walking _all the way_ _around_ the manor. So that left only two options: stay outside and hope none of them accidentally hit her with an arrow, or go straight through the bunch to get inside to safety. Klea had no faith in the boys’ aim so she resolved to save herself some injury (or death).

Gathering up her spell books (which she had covered with plain leather to hide their nature) Klea grit her teeth and ducked her head down, charging towards the door before the boys could start their shooting. She hoped to get past without incident, but should have known such hopes were futile.

“Oh, don’t mind us, m’lady,” one of her brother’s friends called out. “Carry on with your reading, you’re in no danger of stray arrows, our aim is true,” he continued with a grin. Klea couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“True as the Seeker religion,” she scoffed. The assembly gasped, a couple laughed, and several nudged her brother Tereus. He looked at her with a dark scowl.

“Sister, show some respect! These men and I are squires and are not to be addressed so callously,” he reprimanded her. Klea heaved a long-suffering sigh and fixed her brother with an amused look.

“I see grandfather’s elocution lessons have paid off,” she smirked. “You almost sound like you were raised a noble.” Tereus knew Klea did not mean that as a compliment. He glared at her but one of his friends felt courageous enough to chime in.

“Despite the coarseness of the lady’s comment, it has truth to it,” he said smoothly. Some of his friends glared at him, insulted that he would agree they were poor shots, but the boy continued. “However, the task is more difficult than it seems. Perhaps the lady would try her hand at it before passing judgment?” he smirked.

Klea glared at him while the others grinned, pleased at the challenge. Tereus’ face was still stern but even he was smiling albeit tersely. All of them fully expected her to decline the challenge and thusly retreat from the battle of words.

But Klea wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. She straightened her shoulders and snatched the bow and an arrow from the boy holding them, instantly shutting up the group’s snickers. However, when she drew back the string and they saw her arms shaking with the strain their grins returned. Surely this thin, studious girl would hardly be able to shoot an arrow even just beyond the courtyard.

Ordinarily, Klea would be in for some public humiliation. She had gotten considerably stronger with all her work at her mistress’ shop, but this was still a bow built for adult men. Beyond that, her aim wasn’t great, probably better than these fools but hardly spot-on enough to hit a goblet thrown into the air. But she had had it with these boys and so she was determined to show them up.

So she was cheating.

Yes, it was against the rules to practice spells outside of class and honestly she shouldn’t have even been able to successfully cast anything yet. But, well… Klea wasn’t one for following rules and she had just the right mix of determination and talent that had allowed her to successfully figure out a spell on her own just a couple days prior. And it was going to come in handy.

“Throw a goblet,” she ordered.

Smirking, one of the boys grabbed up a crystal goblet, and sharing a look with his friends, hurled it up and out over the grounds.

Whispering the spell under her breath as she aimed the bow, she released the arrow just as she finished the words and it went speeding away straight for the goblet. Just getting the arrow off alone was enough to shut up her brother and his friends, but when they saw that thing making a beeline for the glint of the crystal goblet tumbling in the air their jaws dropped. Her targeting spell was proven successful as the arrow struck and the goblet shattered, sending a rain of sparkling glass out over the green lawns.

Alice couldn’t hide the triumphant grin but didn’t say anything. She simply handed off the bow to a gaping boy and then walked off, the group parting before her, into the manor.

* * *

Caramon shivered in the chill rain pouring down steadily as his and Raistlin’s mother was buried beside their father. He knew he should be grieving his mother’s death, but at the moment he was more concerned about his brother. Raistlin stood bareheaded in the rain, letting it soak into his clothes and skin and bones, staring at the grave almost sightlessly. His thin frame shook ever so slightly and his face looked gaunt. Caramon hoped it was from grief but feared it was an oncoming illness.

When the ceremony ended and the few mourners who had come out bid quick condolences and then made a hasty retreat indoors, Raistlin remained standing and staring into the grave. He didn’t seem to notice anything but the grave, the dirt being shoveled in and making that haunting hollow, wet clop sound against the coffin. Caramon plucked at his brother’s sleeve.

“Raist,” he said gently.

It seemed as if Raistlin didn’t hear him, but he moved to take a step forward—and nearly toppled into the grave. Caramon caught him, his hands feeling Raistlin’s skin burning to the touch.

“Raist! You’re burning up!” Caramon exclaimed in concern.

“Did you hear her, Caramon? Did you hear her calling for me?” Raistlin asked as he peered at the coffin as if he was ready to jump in and join their mother. Caramon was terrified but needed to be strong for his brother.

“We have to get you home,” he said firmly as he put an arm around his brother. Raistlin tried to push him away, gasping something about needing to hurry and trying his hardest to leap into the grave, but his body wasn’t moving properly. Raistlin couldn’t seem to keep his body up and Caramon struggled to keep him on his feet.

Raistlin collapsed into the mud and Caramon bent over him, shaking him, but he wouldn’t respond. Caramon looked around helplessly. Everyone had already left and there was no one to help him with his twin.

Caramon’s thoughts instantly turned to the bronze disk in the trunk at home. Klea could help him take care of Raistlin. She would come if he told her and she would probably know a lot more than Caramon about fighting this illness if she knew even half the herb lore that Raistlin did.

He had all but decided that he would contact Klea. Raistlin would be furious with him when he found out but that would only be after he was better, and then he couldn’t be too angry because he would be alive and healthy. But first Caramon had to get Raistlin home. He was about to simply lift his brother into his arms and carry him back when a pair of boots came into view.

“Hello, Caramon.”

Kit helped Caramon practically drag Raistlin back home and immediately set to fighting off Death, sending Caramon rushing back out to get essence of willow bark. The next several hours were so crazy that Caramon completely forgot about contacting Klea.

* * *

Roal Garrington gave her a charmingly fake smile across the table as Klea’s grandparents watched on like hawks circling their dinner. Klea gave him a thin-lipped… expression, which was too blank to be described as a smile.

According to her grandparents, Roal was the perfect Solamnic gentleman. He was handsome, ambitious, and charismatic. He also came from a good (wealthy) Solamnic family and was training to become a knight.

According to Klea, however, he was brash, arrogant, and dull. He came from a good, wealthy Solamnic family who would run screaming for the hills upon learning that the young lady their son was courting was studying magic. He _was_ attractive, she had to admit that, but Roal knew it too, so it worked more to his detriment than advantage.

But Roal Garrington would provide a nice, stable, respectable, and comfortable life for Klea in which he would go off to win glory in battle while she would stay in their manor popping out children to carry on the tradition of either knighthood or motherhood. Klea could not imagine a more boring and soul-sucking life.

That wasn’t what she wanted at all. She wanted adventure, power, and excitement. She wanted someone who challenged her, excited her, and motivated her. She wanted someone who not only knew about but understood her ambitions and shared them.

She quickly banished the image forming in her mind and stabbed a potato particularly violently. Her grandmother glared at her but Klea didn’t pay her any attention aside from chewing loudly and with her mouth open just to spite the old woman.

“Well, since you seem incapable of shutting your mouth, why don’t you engage in our conversation?” her grandmother asked in what was a thinly veiled scolding.

“You’re not talking,” Klea pointed out with her mouth still full.

Roal successfully passed off his chuckle for a cough.

“You insolent…” her grandmother seethed, but at a touch of the arm from her husband she stopped.

“Roal, my boy, it’s such a lovely evening. Perhaps you could take the lady out for a stroll before night falls?” Klea’s grandfather proposed to the young man at the table.

Roal set down his silverware and more bowed than nodded. Klea rolled her eyes.

“A splendid idea, my lord,” he replied, standing. He went around the table to Klea’s seat and held his hand out for her in invitation to join him with, “my lady.”

Klea glowered at everyone present as she dropped her fork, letting it clang against the plate, and pushed her chair back hitting Roal’s side, as he had been behind it prepared to slide it out for her. Klea shoved past his hand and stalked out of the dining hall, casting a careless, “Let’s go” behind her to Roal, who rushed to catch up with her.

She was glad to get outside as the air was cool and refreshing after being cooped up in the muggy mansion by the fireplace. The moons were also beginning to appear in the sky, Lunitari bathing the gardens in a red glow that others might describe as romantic. Under different circumstances, with someone else, maybe Klea would have agreed with that description. But right now it just seemed a reflection of her anger.

At least Roal had learned not to try to take her hand or arm as they walked. He kept pace beside her, shortening his long strides so as to not outdistance her. Klea both appreciated it and thought it incredibly aggravating and condescending.

Roal placed his hands behind his back and heaved a dramatic sigh.

“It is a lovely evening, despite that being just your grandfather’s excuse to dismiss you,” Roal commented with his usual underlying layer of arrogance. Klea rolled her eyes (even though she agreed with him).

“It’s too hot,” she complained, glaring at her arms as they rebelliously erupted in goosebumps. Roal chuckled—it set Klea’s teeth on edge.

“I would offer you my arm but I’d rather not repeat last time,” he said haughtily. His face darkened in remembrance, Klea’s broke out into a grin.

“I wouldn’t mind repeating it,” she muttered to herself in satisfaction. If Roal heard he didn’t react. Guess he was still sore from that bruised rib.

The two didn’t speak for a time, Roal striding along while Klea shuffled her feet and kicked at pebbles. Roal kept giving her a weird look every now and again but every time she caught him he would look away and half-grin, half-grimace. When he did it for about the seventy-fourth time Klea finally snapped. “What?” she demanded irritatedly.

“There’s a tourney in a fortnight, perhaps you would like to watch me compete in it?” Roal propositioned smugly as if he’d already won the tourney. Klea shook her head.

“Why do you keep trying?” she asked, genuinely confused. Roal smirked.

“You come from a good Solamnic family,” he answered.

“So do a lot of other girls who I’m sure would be more than thrilled to marry you,” Klea retorted.

“None as wealthy or respectable as your family,” he returned. “Our union would add to my family’s wealth, holdings, and status. It would also ensure me my own manor,” he explained.

“Ah, of course! The money and the prestige!” Klea scoffed. “You know my parents were disinherited a few years back?”

Roal waved this off like he was shooing a bug—which he could’ve been, the mosquitoes were starting to come out.

“That is no longer relevant, your family’s status remains un-impinged,” he replied.

Klea glowered. Greeaat.

“So? Would you do me the honor of giving me favor in the tourney and cheering me on?” Roal prodded once more, giving her one of his most charming smiles that simply made Klea glower at him.

“What’s the point? If you’re only in this for the money and status why even pretend we actually like each other?” Klea retorted.

“Squires and knights typically have favors from their lovely ladies,” he shrugged. Klea stared at him.

“So you want to show me off,” she deadpanned. Roal nodded, not seeing anything wrong with it. Klea continued, her voice growing in intensity with every word. “You want me to go and give you a handkerchief so you can show off to all your friends how you’re courting a rich, pretty girl AS IF I’M A TROPHY TO DISPLAY?!”

Roal was taken aback by her tone and volume. He quickly glanced around to make sure no one was around to witness her outburst. Always thinking about appearances, this guy.

Before he could respond, Klea stormed off. Roal called after her but Klea ignored him and he wasn’t about to chase after her. Klea was seething. She was no one’s trophy to parade around and she didn’t intend to ever be.

Somehow she wound up in the woods. Klea had been so preoccupied with imagining burning Roal and her grandparents to a crisp with a fireball that she hadn’t paid any attention to where she was going. She had simply stalked, knowing only that she wanted to get as far away from Roal as she could. Except that now she found herself at the edge of her grandparents property—which was quite a distance—in the chill night without a cloak but still not ready to return to the manor.

She just didn’t have it in her to deal with her grandparents’ ire at the moment. So instead she found a tree with low branches and pulled herself up into it. She had gotten better at climbing trees since that adventure with Raistlin—carrying boxes of magical artifacts built up some muscle after a while. A laugh escaped her as she recalled how she and Raistlin had kept stepping on each other’s fingers and nearly falling out of the tree when they were trying to get high enough to see where they were. She certainly didn’t need to go that high this time around and simply settled herself against the trunk on a wide branch still low enough to the ground that she wouldn’t get too horribly injured if she fell.

Her smile at the fond memory turned sour. Raistlin had gone back to avoiding her. She hadn’t spoken with him in weeks and while she had gone to Solace and met with Caramon a couple of times it wasn’t the same. Caramon was fun but she couldn’t talk to him about serious things, couldn’t open up to him. He just didn’t understand what it was like to be an outcast, how lonely it was living without real friends. She really needed her friend right now… but she wasn’t so sure she had one anymore.

Wiping her nose—she wasn’t crying, it was cold!—Klea pulled out the bronze disk which she always kept on her. She held it in her hands and stared at it, not sure of what to say. He wouldn’t respond anyway so what did it matter?

Giving up, she dropped her head against the disk and began to cry.

Until a faint light pulsed against her close eyelids. It couldn’t be morning—she hadn’t been out that late. Klea lifted her head up and saw that it was the disk. Raistlin had actually sent her a message!

Klea wiped the tears from her eyes to read the message, her hopes soaring. Only for them to come crashing back down again.

It wasn’t Raistlin, it was Caramon.

Klea groaned and let out a bitter laugh. She was about to ignore it, but thought that here she was crying in a tree about not having any friends and about to ignore someone reaching out to her simply because it wasn’t the person she wanted. Shaking her head, she read the message. It was long but she read every word, her face growing more solemn as she went.

Setting her jaw, Klea pulled out the ring and slipped it on her finger, picturing the soaring vallenwoods and the bridges arcing between them and the small house nestled in the branches near the outskirts of town.

* * *

Had opening his eyes always been this hard? Raistlin thought not, but by the time he finally managed to drag up his eyelids he felt he didn’t have the strength to do anything else.

Kitiara was leaning back in Rosamun’s rocking chair and Caramon was sitting on the edge of his bed, constantly casting worried glances over at Raistlin, so he was the first to notice Raistlin open his eyes. He immediately swooped over to Raistlin’s bedside with a relieved smile and Kit sat forward and gave Raistlin a charming, albeit exhausted grin.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Baby Brother,” she smirked.

Raistlin didn’t have the energy to shrug so he simply rolled his eyes. Kit chuckled.

“Caramon, go get him some food,” she ordered their brother and Caramon bustled off to obey.

Raistlin wasn’t surprised to find her there. In his fevered state he had dreams, or perhaps they were simply images from his fevered state where he was semi-lucid, of her taking care of him. Kit had always been the one to nurse him back to health, from his sickness as a baby up until she had left a few years ago, but apparently she returned when her services were needed again.

“I had dreams about you,” he said, his voice sounding weak and scratchy. “About you, and…” Raistlin trailed off.

There was no point in telling that he had also had a dream about Klea. For one thing, Kit didn’t know who Klea was. For another, Raistlin was worried that if his dreams about Kit had been real, then perhaps the one of Klea had been too. He internally groaned. _Please don’t let that have been real or else I can never face her again_.

“Most men do,” Kit retorted to his first statement with a wink and grin. She sat down on the edge of his bed as Caramon came back in with chicken broth.

Kitiara apparently had come back for more than her mother’s funeral and subsequently nursing Raistlin back to health. Raistlin listened to her proposition but after a while he immediately knew that what she was caught up in he wanted no part of. She was a mercenary, but for what cause Raistlin was wary of. She wouldn’t seriously answer any of his questions and he didn’t intend on working in some temple as a priest.

“Thank you, Sister, but I am not ready,” Raistlin said. Perhaps he would become a mercenary someday, fight alongside his brother’s sword, but as of yet he couldn’t even cast the simplest of spells. He needed more study and training. He needed to pass the Test. He needed more power.

“Ready?” Kit was baffled. “What do you mean ‘ready’? Ready for what? You can read, can’t you? You can write, can’t you? So you don’t have any talent for magic. You gave it a good try. It’s not important. There are other ways to gain power. I know. I’ve found them.”

_No talent for magic_! How dare she! What did she expect, that after a few years of school he would shooting fiery daggers from his fingertips? Magic isn’t like learning sleight of hand tricks, it’s more complex than that!

Or was it? Raistlin often feared that what she said was true, that he didn’t have a talent for magic, that he was wasting his time learning to write the characters, pronounce the spells, but when it came down to it he would never be able to cast anything. Then what would he do? Then how could he gain power?

But Klea had said he was more talented than she. And if anyone else understood magic, truly understood it, it would be Klea, not Kitiara.

“That’s enough, Caramon!” Raistlin pushed away the spoon his brother was lifting to his mouth. He lay back down on the pillows wearily. “I need to rest.”

Kit wouldn’t let that be the last of it. She stood up, placed her hands on her hips, and glared down at him. “That adle-pated mother of ours had you wrapped in cotton, for fear you’d break. It’s time you got out, saw something of the world.”

“I am not ready,” Raistlin said again and closed his eyes.

Kitiara fumed and stomped out of the room. Raistlin knew she hadn’t wanted to be turned down, but also knew she wouldn’t be too disappointed. At the end of the day, Kitiara only cared about the power she could gain for herself and wasn’t going to let anyone, brother or no, to hold her back.

Perhaps in that way the two weren’t so different.

Raistlin heaved a sigh.

Except, maybe Raistlin wasn’t that simple. Despite how desperately he wished to establish himself separate from his brother, he still cared for Caramon. And there was Klea. He cared deeply for Klea, so deeply it had long ago begun to frighten him.

Raistlin drifted between consciousness and sleep as he recalled the dream he had a few nights before.

_He seemed to be burning, like someone had lit him on fire from the inside, but his bones felt so cold. Something was twisting about him, constricting him, sheets--- or maybe ropes or burial clothes. He shivered even as he sweat, and tossed and turned trying to escape—escape? Escape from what? He was buried alive, trapped in a coffin, he could hear the dirt being shoveled atop it, pelting against the wood with a wet ‘clop’ sound._

_Where was Caramon? Why was he letting them bury him? He wasn’t dead yet! He was still alive. Couldn’t someone hear him? He was sure he was calling out, banging on the coffin._

_Suddenly there was light. Then a shadow as a face fell over him. Was it Caramon?_

_Hands touched his fevered skin. They were gentle, but they weren’t the large calloused hands of his brother. No, these were smaller, softer, with long fingers perfect for spell-casting._

_Raistlin opened his eyes to find Klea looking down on him. Concern was etched into her features, her eyes red. Had she been crying for him?_

_Her gentle hands cooled his burning skin as she pressed her palm against his forehead. When she began to remove her hand from him he hastily reached out for her._

_“No, please don’t leave me!” he gasped out. He sounded pathetic but he didn’t care anymore. Her hands were soft and cool and healing. She was here to save him._

_She smiled down at him. Not her radiant, laughing smile that had first made his stomach twist in knots and his cheeks burn, nor her mischievous teasing grin that made his heart leap into his throat. No, this one was infinitely compassionate, gentle, and… sorrowful? Why was she sad?_

_Her hands folded about Raistlin’s. “I’m not going to leave you, I’m here to help,” she said. Raistlin sighed in relief, but when her hands began to pull away from him again he panicked and gripped her wrists again, tightly. Klea rested a hand against his again, gently but firmly and gave him another kind smile, though there was a sternness behind her eyes and in her tone. “I have something here that will help you, but you have to let me get it. I promise I won’t go anywhere.”_

_Raistlin nodded but Klea still had to remove his hand from her wrist. As soon as he lost that contact with her he fell back into despair. His skin was on fire and in the absence of her cooling touch he was bound to burn to ash. He couldn’t die here, not here, not in front of her, not when she didn’t know how he felt about her._

_Klea made him drink something, he didn’t know what; he trusted her. The liquid slid down his throat like ice and made him gasp but it settled in his stomach comfortably warm. His body seemed to prickle for a moment and then go numb. He clutched onto her to make sure she didn’t vanish from him. He was sure he was dying now, but he couldn’t let her leave. She_ didn’t know! _He couldn’t leave without her knowing!_

_“Klea! Klea!” he cried out her name almost fearfully, desperately._

_“Raistlin, I’m here,” she reassured him but he couldn’t relax, not yet, not until he told her._

_“Klea! I—I don’t want to go! I don’t… want to end up like my mother,” he gasped._

_“I know, Raist. You won’t, you’ll be fine,” she told him gently. He just held onto her tighter._

_“Klea, I—I don’t want to be alone!”_

_“You’re not alone, Raistlin. I’m here, and you have Caramon, and your half-sister,” she said. She didn’t understand._

_“I don’t want to be_ alone _! I thought no one could understand me… until you, and you did, you understood perfectly!” he explained. Klea smiled._

_“Well, we’re very similar, I guess we both want the same things in life,” she said. Raistlin shook his head._

_“You don’t_ get it _! I—I thought I knew myself. But you, you showed me that I didn’t, I didn’t know anything about myself! I thought that—I thought caring, I thought it was foolish, but I didn’t understand. You made me understand!” he sounded positively deranged, he was sure, but he had to make her understand. Klea’s smile slipped and she frowned at him._

_“Raistlin… I don’t…” she wasn’t getting it! How could he make her see?_

_He already seemed mad, so what was there holding him back anymore? He gripped her arms and with strength he didn’t know he had, lifted himself from the coffin and pressed his lips to hers almost violently. Klea was shocked, her eyes wide open, rigid in his arms. But then, he thought he felt her relax. Her eyes closed, her lips parted, her cool hands brushed his arms. His body seemed to catch fire once more, only it wasn’t unbearable this time, it was comfortable, warm and tingling._

_But then he dropped back down, back down into the coffin, back down into darkness. He had used all his remaining strength. But it was worth it, he could go back into the darkness now, which wasn’t so terrifying now. She knew now. She understood._

After that he had turned into a dragon that breathed butterflies.

Raistlin drifted off into sleep. A restful sleep unconcerned with possibly having revealed his feelings to Klea, because that one had definitely been a dream.


	10. Reassembling in the Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It wound up angstier and shorter than I intended and I didn't get done what I wanted to, but the chapter decided it was finished and I'm tired of arguing with it

Rain woke him as it hammered against the roof alongside the rumble of thunder that could be felt as much as heard. Raistlin was too exhausted from grief to move so he lay in his bed and watched the storm pass. It left in its wake a quiet only disrupted by the incessant dripping of the leaves.

He felt empty. He couldn’t feel the bedclothes under him nor the blanket over him, as if he had no substance, and the idea recalled his fevered nightmares of the grave. His pain broke upon him then. His pain for the loss of his mother and his father and for everyone who was born into the light only to return to the empty darkness. And his fear. His fear for himself.

His tears stung and burned but he wept silently so as not to wake Caramon. So as not for his brother to see his weakness.

The tears subsided after a while and he became more aware of his physical, living form. He had a bitter taste in his mouth, his nose was clogged, and his throat tight from his muffled weeping. The bedclothes were damp, too, from his fever breaking in the night.

He could only vaguely recall being sick. He mostly remembered the nightmares. He was his mother, a shrunken corpse, surrounded by people staring down at him. Antimodes, Master Theobald, the Widow Judith, Caramon, the dwarf and the kender, Kitiara, no one would help him as he pleaded for food, water, anything. They denied him all, saying he had no need of it, he was dead. 

The terror of when they dumped him in a coffin in the ground had been overwhelming; simply recalling it brought on a tightening of his chest and a quickening of his heart. Only to remember the light that broke through as someone pulled him back out: Klea. Even in his fevered dreams she was his comfort.

The horror of the dreams seemed less powerful in the lightening dawn, as well as in the remembrance of Klea banishing them. He dwelled briefly on the end of that dream; the cool gentleness of her touch, the kindness of her voice, the softness of her lips. If he was to remember any part of his dreams, he wanted it to be that; something he could hold onto when loneliness crept in.

The wool blanket was rough and chafing so he cast it aside. He was still weak but stood up, shivering against the chill air on his bare flesh. He hastily grabbed his shirt and dragged it on before standing in the middle of the room at a loss for his next move.

Caramon was in the bed built into the opposite wall and Raistlin walked over to look down on him. Usually he was a heavy sleeper, sprawled out and at ease, but this day his sleep was restless. Though disturbed by terrifying dreams, so exhausted was he that he could not wake from them. He tossed and turned, the bedclothes wound around him, his blanket and pillow long since tumbled to the floor. Raistlin touched his hand to his brother’s forehead, but it was not warm—whatever Caramon’s ailment it was not of the body.

“Caramon,” Raistlin began, gripping his brother’s shoulder. “Wake up, brother.”

“Raist!” Carmen cried out, but still asleep, still wracked by the nightmare. “Don’t leave me!” he pleaded.

“Caramon! Caramon, I’m here!” Raistlin called to him, getting desperate, but his brother could not hear him.

“Don’t make me go in there, Raist,” Caramon whimpered, a truly frightening sound.

“Caramon!” Raistlin cried, but it was no use.

It was desperation that drove him to seek out the rose petals. The spell had never worked before but it was his only option. Raistlin dropped the petals onto Caramon’s restless form and whispered the words.

Caramon’s restlessness ceased and Raistlin froze. No. He wasn’t… No. Caramon couldn’t be dead.

“Caramon!” No response. “Caramon! Don’t leave me!” Raistlin cried, and clutched at his brother.

He was met with a low snore.

Raistlin was at once relieved and exhausted. Trying to steady his racing heart, Raistlin left his brother to sleep and went out into the sitting room. 

Gillon’s presence had long since left the house— he had never really been there enough to leave a hole— but Rosamun’s still lingered. Her rocking chair sat empty… lost… forbidding. Raistlin didn’t care, he was exhausted and would fall to the floor just as soon as not. He sank into it, feeling at once as if he was banishing the curse and taking up her place.

He shook the thought away. It was just a chair. He began to rock slightly, easing his anxiety over his brother’s distress. 

Then it was that he realized he had just successfully performed real magic.

A grin split across his face, unable to contain it, no need to. He had just performed magic! All of his hard work, all of his struggles, working towards this goal that had seemed a dream but now that he had reached the slightest edges of the reality he simply wanted more.

_This is exhilirating! I have to tell Klea._

Raistlin got to his feet and charged back into the room, not bothering to be quiet— Caramon would sleep through any noise he made, he had made sure of that. Throwing open the trunk, Raistlin began digging through, pulling out all manner of objects without care, simply trying to reach the bottom where lay…

Nothing.

Panic gripped him.

_Where is it?_ Raistlin searched the bottom of the trunk but the bronze disk was not there. Turning to all the things he had so carelessly tossed out, Raistlin frantically searched through them in case the disk had gotten mixed up in all of the junk, but it was nowhere to be found. Jumping to his feet, Raistlin glanced around desperately.

There it was. Sitting on the nightstand. _How did it get there?_

No matter. Raistlin picked up the bronze disk, eager to relate to Klea the news.

But stopped.

He hadn’t spoken to her in weeks. Admittedly, this time he had good reason, but he had ignored her before. Perhaps she believed he had simply done so again. If that were the case he would need to apologize, explain the situation, she would understand… hopefully. He needed her to understand, she was the only one he had to speak to about all of this… well, besides Caramon. But why should she? Why should she forgive him a second time?

Raistlin now felt guilty about the dream. As if he had betrayed her. Wanting to keep a memory, a piece of her that she had not freely given. It shamed him. He could not speak to her now, not about something as petty as casting a spell.

But it wasn’t petty. It was magic! She would understand the implications, the power needed, she would love to hear about it!

Conflicted between how he knew she would react and how he believed she should, Raistlin finally decided she deserved an explanation at the very least. He would apologize for ignoring her and whether she would accept it or not would be up to her. He needed to tell her everything… well, not the dream, it was probably best he just pretended that hadn’t happened.

* * *

Raistlin’s strength returned rapidly so that the next day he was able to sit at the kitchen table with his brother. His fever had broken during the night, Kitiara had left, and Raistlin had successfully cast his first spell. The latter of which he had told to Klea in a series of long messages on his disk… now if only she would respond.

He supposed it was fair that she didn’t respond immediately after he had been ignoring her for weeks. Well, ignoring wasn’t the right word. Perhaps he shouldn’t have tried to explain all that had happened over the disk. He should apologize for that too. He’d do that after breakfast.

For now, he and his brother had to decide what they were going to do.

Caramon informed him that Anna Brightblade had offered to take them in, but Raistlin was not keen on having Sturm Brightblade for a brother.

“Master My-Honor-Is-My-Life. He’s so smug and arrogant, parading his virtue up and down the streets, making a show of righteousness. It’s enough to make one puke.” Raistlin remarked bitterly.

“Ah, Sturm’s not so bad,” Caramon began in defense of his friend before adding under his breath: “Klea likes him well enough.”

Raistlin’s blood boiled but he pretended he hadn’t heard. Caramon graciously pretended he hadn’t mentioned it.

“He’s had a rough time of it. At least we know how our father died. Sturm doesn’t even know if his father’s dead or alive,” Caramon continued somberly.

Perhaps Raistlin would have otherwise been more sympathetic with the young man’s history had he not been thinking about how enamored Klea had been with Sturm. So his responses to Caramon relating the young man’s story were quite caustic. But then, they probably would have been regardless; Raistlin and Sturm had always been at odds.

Ultimately Raistlin and Caramon decided to stay in their home. The house was theirs, they had no debts, and Caramon could provide for them working for Farmer Sedge. Raistlin was not comfortable with relying on Caramon to support him, but Caramon provided him with a solution by setting down an empty vial on the table. It belonged to Weird Meggin and Raistlin decided to return it to her himself, where he would also offer to work with the woman in providing cures for their neighbors’ ills and discomforts. It had seemed a brilliant idea at the time…but then so had telling Klea about his parents’ deaths, the Widow Judith’s banishment, his sickness, and his successful spellcasting through the bronze disk… he was questioning all of his decisions as of late.

So lost in his own gloomy and regretful thoughts, and probably still in a bit of a fog from his illness, Raistlin completely forgot about the wolf at the door. It warned him with a growl before he could step on its paw as it was sprawled out in front of the doorstep. Raistlin jumped back.

Someone chuckled.

Raistlin turned to find Meggin kneeling in her herb garden on the side of the house.

“Well, don’t just stand there, boy,” Meggin rasped, jolting Raistlin from his stunned motionlessness. He cautiously stepped away from the wolf who watched him as he made his way to the garden gate and stepped inside. “What do you have there?”

Raistlin had almost forgotten he had brought over some of his own herbs and glanced down, surprised at them in his hands.

“I’ve come to return your vial,” Raistlin handed the old woman the empty vial which she casually dropped to the side. “And I’ve brought some of my own herbs.”

“Well, I can see that. What for? I told your brother there was no need for payment,” Meggin intoned.

“They are not offered in payment, Mistress,” Raistlin clarified, then paused to draw himself up a bit more dignified. “I believe it would be beneficial if we two were to combine our knowledge and resources.”

Weird Meggin gave him a curious, approving look before she chuckled. Brushing her hands off before placing them on her knees, she pressed herself up from the dirt. Snatching the herbs from Raistlin before he had quite held them out to her, Meggin inspected each, mumbling about the breeds.

“This one,” Meggin turned a curious eye on Raistlin, holding out a leaf. “How’d you get it to grow here? It needs dry heat.”

“I forgot I had planted it and left it in the sun without water for weeks,” Raistlin answered ruefully. Instead of disapproving, Meggin smiled to herself and nodded.

“You know how to use these? Which would help a wheezing child?” Meggin tested him.

“Depends if it is brought on by spasming or irritation,” Raistlin picked a hairy stalk with a small bunch of flowers and big leaves. “Crushed, this would soothe spasming, while the essence of this,” Raistlin took a thin stem that looked like it had joints, “would ease both.”

Meggin nodded in approval.

* * *

16th Autumn

Raistlin and Meggin were quite busy in the weeks leading up to his return to school. It seemed the entire town was struck with the sniffles, though some were affected more severely. Nevertheless, by the time class was to resume, Meggin shooed Raistlin off, assuring him that the few who were still suffering from colds would survive without his nursing.

Without needing to rush from sneezing house to sneezing house, Raistlin finally settled enough to once more return to the realization that Klea had not returned his message. He supposed he should have expected it. She had finally given up on putting forth all the effort into their friendship and had dispensed with him. It had been long overdue, she deserved more loyalty than he had shown. If only he had realized his mistake long ago, before he had lost his only friend… before she could be something more.

Raistlin quickly banished that thought. It and similar ones had been creeping up on him more frequently as of late, despite how unwelcome they were. Particularly when Raistlin was in the clearing, as he was now.

It had started out as his solace, a place to go to avoid the mockery and later the indifference of the other boys. Somewhere along the way it came to be their place, so that without her presence Raistlin felt oppressively alone, almost as if he weren’t allowed there without her, as if he was trespassing.

POP.

Raistlin stumbled backwards, his heart hammering out of his chest.

There she was. Dark hair, bright eyes, ever-present quirk to the lips indicating a smirk at the ready. Her black robes fluttering as they settled from the wind that always swirled around her when she used the ring.

She turned at the crackling of leaves to see Raistlin, steadying hand on a nearby tree as if to keep his balance. She beamed at him.

And then promptly sneezed.

“Sorry, it’s the leaves,” she said as though through a fog. Raistlin gathered himself and proceeded forward, still stunned at her sudden appearance after months of absence. He was overjoyed that she was here, but also felt a sudden surge of anger. He didn’t understand where it came from or what it was about, but it was overwhelming.

“I contacted you a month ago,” he snapped. Klea sniffled but drew herself up, meeting his glare with one of her own though a bit confused at the tone.

“I was sick,” she retorted sharply.

“For a month?” Raistlin scoffed. Klea _actually_ glared at him this time.

“Why the tone of disbelief? It’s more likely than your being sick for six.” she commented. Raistlin knew better, he should be running from that look, but he couldn’t seem to quell this unexplainable anger that forced him to confront her.

“Forgive me for not calling on you while I was burying my parents,” he snarled savagely, but Klea was undaunted.

“I’m talking about before that!” she exclaimed, somehow managing to get to eye-level with him. Raistlin was the first to back down from the intense glaring, scoffing and turning away from her. Klea looked after him, dumbstruck. “I thought you’d be happy to see me, but I guess I was wrong. You clearly don’t want me around, about time I got the message.”

“No,” he gasped, spinning around. The desperation of it startled both of them. Raistlin cleared his throat and tried to gain control of himself but he was shaking. The anger was quickly draining from him to be replaced by fear. “I apologize, I—” he couldn’t quite seem to force the words out. Klea just looked on at him warily, though her gaze was gentler. “I do not know why I was so heated,” he looked up at her as if she could give the answer. 

“You’re hurting,” Klea shrugged. Raistlin’s brows drew together quickly in disagreement.

“I have been perfectly—“

“—fine?” Klea interrupted, completing his sentence. “You’ve been keeping busy, probably working around town before coming to school where you’re staying until the summer?” Raistlin didn’t respond, they both knew she was correct though he had not told her any of this. “Raistlin, both of your parents died within days of each other. You’re not over it, you’re just avoiding dealing with it. And some of that may be my fault, I should’ve come sooner.”

“Why didn’t you?” Raistlin asked quietly.

“I was sick,” Klea snapped. “I told you that already.”

Raistlin was intensely aware of the space between them but as of yet felt incapable of bridging it. Instead he shrugged.

“It is not your duty to help me grieve.”

Klea looked at him, shocked.

“Yes, it is. I’m your friend,” she retorted. Raistlin was a bit taken aback with how assuredly she stated it, as if there were some unspoken guidelines for friendship outlining one’s responsibilities. But then again, for all Raistlin knew on the subject, there probably were. He looked down ashamedly.

“I am afraid I have been a terrible one,” Raistlin confessed.

“You have,” Klea agreed, matter-of-factly. Raistlin glared over at her. She smirked. “But I’m a really good one. And I’m really stubborn, I don’t give up on people easily.”

Raistlin didn’t respond but immediately tensed when Klea stepped forward, closing the gap between them. She put a hand on his shoulder and as was only the case with her, he welcomed the contact.

“Have you been to the graves since the funerals?” Klea asked gently. From Raistlin’s look, she had her answer. Raistlin’s pulse raced as she took his hand and he prayed to all the gods of magic she couldn’t feel it. She brought his hand up and held her teleportation ring at the ready to slip onto his finger. “Picture it,” she ordered.

When she continued to watch him expectantly, Raistlin gave her a pleading look. She just raised her eyebrows, nodding at him sternly. With a huff, Raistlin closed his eyes and pictured the vallenwood saplings. Klea slipped the ring on his finger and he immediately felt like he was tugged forward into open air before his feet found solid ground once more.

He opened his eyes to find the two tiny saplings indicating his parents’ graves.

Klea was still holding his hand and she squeezed it, but he couldn’t seem to pull his eyes from the saplings. They had grown a bit since their planting, but they still looked so incredibly small compared to the towering trees they would become. Something burned behind his eyes while something else lodged itself in his throat. He tried to tamp down both but despite, or maybe because of, Klea’s presence he couldn’t seem to stop the tears that leaked down his cheeks and to his lips. They tasted bitter.

Probably because he was angry. Angry that they left him and Caramon on their own. But also sad, that they were gone. And relieved, horribly relieved that with them so many worries had gone too. It was a terrible storm of emotions that shouldn’t occur at the same time and that he knew he probably shouldn’t feel at his parents graves. Especially the part of him that thrilled in Klea’s clasping his hand in both of hers.

He didn’t even realize he was sobbing until one of Klea’s hands moved to rub his back to soothe the hiccups away. What was worse was that he wasn’t even sure the tears were for his parents or if they were for himself.

“Both,” Klea whispered.

Raistlin looked at her in shock, but then shook his head. He really should be used to her reading his mind by now. He didn’t know how she did it, if it was legitimately magic or she just knew him that well, but he was grateful for it, for not having to admit to his confusion and anger out loud.

Maybe his grief was exhausted or he came to terms with the mix of emotions or he had simply run out of tears, but he could finally breathe easier again and his eyes were dry. He rubbed at the dried tears on his cheeks with his sleeve, one-handed as Klea was wrapped around the other arm and he was _not_ about to give her an excuse to let go.

“Thank you,” his voice was more hoarse than usual, but Klea understood and nodded.

They turned and walked away in silence.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter I will get done what I need to and so it should be happier or more lighthearted or something, basically just not as angsty and sad so there's that to look forward to


	11. Belated Confessions

He blew it.

First he had yelled at her when she finally showed up after months of not seeing her, after desperately wanting to see her for months, a desperation he then proceeded to show. Then he had broken down and sobbed like a child in front of her. After the trip to his parents’ graves he had been completely useless. The salt on his cheeks was beginning to itch as were his eyes by the time they returned to the clearing. Klea, as understanding as ever, knew the state he was in and stayed with him in silence for a while (unbearable silence because Raistlin so desperately wanted to kiss her but figured that wasn’t the best situation for a first kiss and his lips were as cracked and dry as a desert and he suspected that would not make for a pleasant experience) before departing.

After that, things went back to normal. Which meant that of course Raistlin lost his nerve and had convinced himself once more that Klea held only entirely platonic feelings for him. In that case, if he were to reveal his true feelings it would irreparably damage their friendship, and Raistlin could not lose her friendship. He craved her presence so desperately that it mattered not the condition of their relationship.

But that didn’t stop his heart from jolting every time she touched him, nor his breath from catching every time she smiled, even when it was one of her dangerous smirks that meant she had a very bad idea. Like right now.

Because of his shortness of breath at her mischievous look, Raistlin could not warn his brother as Klea lifted one of the oars. Caramon was currently leaning over the side of their small boat attempting to catch a fish with his bare hands. Using the oar to make up for her short reach she pushed Caramon in the back and over the edge of the boat with an “AGHHH!” and a huge SPLASH that nearly flooded the boat. It also had the effect of violently rocking the boat—with Caramon’s considerable weight suddenly gone from one side the boat overcorrected and nearly dumped the other two occupants out the other side, but instead just dumped them both into the bottom of the boat, Klea on top of Raistlin.

But this is Raistlin’s life we’re talking about. It wasn’t a cliche romantic scene. No. Raistlin crashed onto the boards with a wet slap and was almost instantly soaked. Klea was thrown backwards on top of him, not only landing on his chest and knocking the little wind left in him out, but also banging the back of her head into his nose. They were both pretty sure they heard a CRACK, but whether it was her head or his nose was yet to be ascertained— they were both in enough pain to believe themselves to be on the worse end of the contact.

And just to reassure everyone that this was not in any way a romantic scene, Caramon resurfaced before anything could happen that could possibly salvage the situation, spluttering and clinging to the side of the boat, spraying the two with a mixture of lake water and Caramon’s spit and once more rocking the boat dangerously. Groaning in pain (and partially disgust as she wiped Caramon’s spray from her face) Klea struggled to get up in the unsteady boat. Raistlin just laid at the bottom of the boat for a few more moments gasping for air. Caramon clung to the side of the boat, shivering and looked up at Klea with round eyes.

“What was that for?”

It must have been Caramon’s face when he asked— because nothing else was remotely amusing about the situation— that made Klea chuckle.  
“I thought it’d be funny,” she answered with a shrug. Caramon and Raistlin both glared at her from their compromising situations and she had to stifle a giggle. “All right, so it didn’t turn out like I expected,” she conceded with a shamefaced grin, wincing as she touched the back of her head.

Raistlin had just managed to get up when Klea helped drag Caramon over the edge of the boat. But again, this is Raistlin’s life, and Caramon’s too, so when Klea, using all her strength, managed to pull Caramon up and over the side of the boat, she slipped once more to the bottom of the boat and Caramon was dumped on top of her when the boat rocked again. He somehow managed not to crush her, his arms holding him up and off of her but also caging her in in what was most definitely a cliche romantic scene. Raistlin had enough trouble keeping himself from falling once more when the boat rocked again, but it calmed enough for him to catch the scene, of Caramon and Klea, faces inches away, looking at each other and blushing furiously.

“Sorry,” Caramon apologized, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with her as he got up.

“It’s fine,” Klea blurted quickly as, once freed, she struggled up as well.

While Caramon and Klea sat on opposite ends of the boat, faces red as Lunitari, Raistlin glowered— though the intensity of it was a bit offset by his shivering in his wet robes. No one was keen to break the awkward silence for a while until Klea looked over to Raistlin, blushing.

“How’s your nose?” she asked a bit guiltily.

“Fine,” he snapped a bit too harshly. He scolded himself and softened his tone as he continued. “It does not appear to be broken. How is your head?”

“There’ll probably be a big lump there but it’s still in tact. I’ve been told I have a hard skull,” she smirked.

“I can attest to that,” he agreed. Klea laughed. If he didn’t know better, he would swear her laughter was magic as all the tension and awkwardness was instantly banished by it. Caramon grinned and Raistlin let out a small chuckle. Her laughter was infectious and what else is one supposed to do when three people are sitting in a boat with more water in it and on themselves than in the lake, so the brothers joined in and all three of them were taken by a laughing fit.

When they all finally managed to stop laughing (it took a couple times as one would always start back giggling, dragging the others with them), they once more realized the chill and shivered in their wet clothes. Klea inexplicably drew closer to Raistlin and, despite himself, he put an arm around her. Aside from a slight eyebrow quirk, Caramon didn’t comment on it.

“Whose idea was it to go on the lake in the middle of autumn?” Caramon demanded with a playful glare at Klea. She jokingly grabbed the oar in response and both brothers shouted “WHOA!” and reached to stop her from re-inciting the previous events. Klea burst out laughing, dropping the oar, and the brothers could only chuckle and shake their heads. Caramon subtly took the forgotten oar alongside the other one and began rowing them back to shore.

With Caramon’s powerful strokes, and the fact that they weren’t too far out on the water, they came back into shore in good time. Caramon got out and dragged the boat ashore. Klea and Raistlin got up— Caramon extending a hand to Klea, but, Raistlin was inexplicably pleased to note, she didn’t take it. Klea leaped out of the boat and gracefully landed on the rocky shore, turning around with a bright smile. Perhaps it was the way a strand of wet hair clung to her cheek or perhaps the cold was seeping into him, but Raistlin faltered as he was getting out of the boat. Klea took a step forward but Caramon’s strong arms were instantly there to steady him.

Seeing the look on Klea’s face stung him. Raistlin shoved his brother’s hands away.

“Release me, brother! I am perfectly capable of standing on my own,” he snapped bitterly, straightening his robes.

“Sorry, Raist. I just didn’t want you to fall,” Caramon apologized gently. He had his typical kicked-dog look that made Raistlin feel a pang of remorse. Turning away from his brother, Raistlin caught Klea’s scowl, which just made him feel worse.

She turned and began walking, forcing him to follow along behind her. Ordinarily she would wait and slow her pace to match his, but she was evidently unhappy with him, so Raistlin let her walk ahead alone. He cursed himself for being so short with Caramon, for upsetting Klea—and then he grumbled at the two of them for pitying him and taking offense at his defensiveness. Klea was going through quite similar mental grumblings about Raistlin.

Caramon didn’t seem to take notice of the tense silence between the two and walked in the gap they left, forming their company into a sort of triangle, and tried to start conversation. Klea engaged him, being much better at hiding her anger than Raistlin, or perhaps she just didn’t take out her anger on anyone other than the subject of it. Regardless, it chafed at Raistlin, their easy banter about anything and everything. He was the one that was supposed to make her laugh at the antics of the other boys trying to gain a girl’s attention. 

When the girl in question dropped a handkerchief—whether by accident or on purpose could not be discerned—and the group of boys nearly tackled each other in their attempts to be the one to return it to her, Caramon and Klea had difficulty containing their mirth. One of the young men was successful and bowed when handing it back to the lady who took it gently with a slight smirk. Caramon and Klea then reenacted this scene: Caramon doubling over and nearly tripping over himself in imitation of the boy while Klea let out one of those un-Klea-like simpers and fluttered her lashes in mockery of the girl. Raistlin rolled his eyes and scoffed.

Unfortunately, Klea heard him. Turning, that dangerous glint in her eye— it seemed to be appearing with increasing frequency of late—she regarded Raistlin.

“Why, my good sir,” she addressed Caramon in her mock high-pitched voice, “my servant seems to be struggling with this rapid pace,” referring to Raistlin with an informed look to Caramon. He seemed to instantly understand where she was going—Raistlin was immensely confused and annoyed.

“You are right, m’lady. Would it please you for me to aid him?” Caramon replied in a haughty voice—though his idea of a proper voice meant putting an unnecessary pause between nearly every word, though that could have been due to his attempting to clearly pronounce each.

“It would please me greatly,” Klea answered.

Raistlin didn’t realize his danger until it was too late. Caramon approached him and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Put me down, Caramon! This is undignified,” Raistlin protested irritably to no avail.

“Why don’t we take a romp through the wood,” Klea suggested in that mocking tone. Caramon agreed and the two began skipping and jogging through the woods, Raistlin jostling and cursing them all the way. After they had gone a ways and Raistlin had run out of breath to protest anymore, Klea paused, faint of breath. “I do believe he has had enough rest,” she told Caramon, who, nodding, dumped Raistlin back onto the ground.

“Rest! I was practically thrown about. Honestly, you two are nearly adults, must you behave so immaturely?” Raistlin huffed, straightening his robes, which was difficult with their still being quite damp.

“Nearly adults, meaning we still have some time yet to be childish,” Klea remarked, throwing an arm around Raistlin. Though the action took him by surprise and her bumping into his side almost made him lose his balance, he couldn’t very well bring himself to shrug her arm off. His heart was beating rapidly and it wasn’t from the bout of being treated as a human gunnysack.

She removed her arm all too soon for Raistlin’s liking, though it did make walking easier. The “romp” through the woods had at the very least dissipated the tension in the group, and all three were at once back to conversing and laughing together for the rest of the way to town. Once they arrived however, they were met by a company of their peers urging them—well, Caramon—to join their sport in kicking and chasing after a ball, attempting to shoot it between two stakes at either end.  
Caramon looked over to Raistlin who pointedly ignored the conversation—he knew they were not asking him, and even if they had, he could not very well so exert himself for long. Caramon looked down disappointedly and Klea frowned.

“Sounds fun!” Klea said excitedly to the company, surprising all present. “Come on, Caramon,” she waved him along with her as she and the others proceeded to join the game. Caramon gave one last look to Raistlin, was ignored, and followed after them.

Raistlin was the most surprised by Klea’s interest in the sport—by all accounts she was no more adept at physical activity than was he, though it did not take quite so much out of her as it did Raistlin’s illness-weakened body. He sat down, perturbed, to bitterly watch the game. The others welcomed Klea warmly and she set off racing around and battling for the ball with the lot of them. Caramon was placed as “goal keeper” to block the ball from passing between the two stakes on one end. He was hopeless at it. The others had figured that he was so large it would be difficult to get anything past him, instead he tripped over his own feet trying to stop the ball more often than not and was terrible at guessing where it would go. Klea did rather well but after a while returned over to Raistlin and sat down with a hearty exhale.

“Caramon is having fun,” she remarked, looking on the game.

Raistlin bit back a bitter retort.

“Now that we’ve gotten rid of the third wheel, what do you say to taking a stroll?” she continued, finally turning to him with a breathless grin.

Raistlin gaped at her like a landed fish. At her laugh, he hastily shut his mouth, his brain working furiously to come up with a logical excuse for her wanting to get rid of Caramon. She probably simply wanted more intellectual discussion, enjoying the frivolity for a time but eventually wearying of it. Or simply wanted to spend time with him, they were the true friends after all, and Caramon merely the good one that had been around when she arrived and thus it would have been rude not to invite him along. Raistlin ignored the fact that Klea had no compunctions against seeming rude. He also told himself that her grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet after her was simply the adrenaline from the sport. And it was of course a friendly action, she had done similar things with the others during the game, helping people up when they stumbled. Perhaps her retaining his hand as they walked along was less easily explained away in this manner, so he didn’t attempt to.

Caramon saw Klea lead Raistlin off. He caught Raistlin’s slight grin as he followed the girl who was leading him by the hand. Caramon smiled knowingly, and because he was observing his brother and Klea he completely missed the ball coming straight for the stakes and subsequently was chewed out by his team for missing another goal.

Raistlin and Klea strolled at a leisurely pace, hand in hand, in silence for a ways. Klea seemed to grow more pensive as they went along and Raistlin wasn’t sure the nature of it. It was she that broke the silence.

“Why were you so short with your brother?” Klea asked quietly. Raistlin was startled by the question and had to regather his thoughts to determine to what she was referring.

“At the lake?”

“Yes,” Klea answered. “You stumbled, he was trying to keep you from falling.”

“I do not need him to constantly catch me. It is humiliating to be handled so,” Raistlin replied with a hint of bitterness. Klea was silent a moment.

“Not everything is pity, Raistlin,” she said softly. Raistlin turned to her, but she was looking out over the field. The light had just started fading and cast a warm, golden glow over the landscape. Raistlin was transfixed by the way the light set her eyes to burning—like green and golden flames. She suddenly turned to him, the fire in her eyes not simply a trick of the light.

“I didn’t mean for my concern to hurt you. It was compassion and not pity,” she explained.

Raistlin looked away, ashamed. She had found the heart of it. Her look when he had faltered had pained him as he thought it pity. Yet it was hard to separate pity and compassionate concern in his mind, for he was not too familiar with the latter.

“I know you did not mean to,” Raistlin paused. “I know you do not pity me. You’re the only one that does not and I am grateful. It is one of the reasons I…” Raistlin hastily bit his tongue and looked away. He had had to stop himself before he ruined it.

It seemed he had done so anyway as Klea looked away disappointedly after a moment.

They continued on and somehow wound up in the clearing. Both were quite surprised they had traveled so far.

“You are quite certain you are not wearing the ring?” Raistlin asked for the seventh time.

“Yes, I am quite certain!” Klea bit back harshly. She sighed. “It’s getting late, I’ll have to take you back, can’t let you walk back alone in the dark.”

“I believe I am capable enough to make my way home on my own,” he bristled.

“You know damn well that’s not what I meant, Raistlin,” she snapped. She had to exhale to regather her composure. He was apparently grating her nerves. “It’s not that I think you incapable of handling yourself, rather it would be rude for me to leave you to walk home considering I brought you out here. It’s the honorable thing to do,” she explained, though still quite heated.

“You sound like Brightblade,” Raistlin scoffed. Klea steamed.

“By Nuitari, you can be so dense sometimes! The knights don’t have a monopoly on honor, Raistlin!”

Despite himself, Raistlin couldn’t help but admire her. She was particularly beautiful when arguing—the fire in her eyes, the way the corners of her lips turned up into a smile as she ranted even if she was angry, the rapid gesticulating that could prove dangerous to bystanders, luckily they were alone. Perhaps it was this last fact, or their location—in their spot—or the flush of her cheeks, or the fire in her eyes, or everything together that was so overwhelming that there was no time to worry about ruining anything before he was surging forward. 

It was more a bump of lips than anything resembling a kiss, and was over in an instant but surprised both of them. Klea had ceased her tirade and stood there in shock. Raistlin was rapidly beginning to regret his hasty action. What was that? He was not spontaneous, he always thought through things carefully, how could he have behaved so rashly? And with something so important. He began punishing himself for ruining the greatest friendship he had ever dreamt of.

So he was quite startled when Klea grabbed the front of his robes and pulled him to her in a fierce kiss. He quickly overcame his surprise and returned her passion with his own, gathering her up in his arms. His fingers sliding through her hair. The scent of her seemed the embodiment of magic; rose petals and some herbs and spices along with the faint smell of less pleasant spell components. His blood seemed to be aflame, his heart racing in his chest so that he couldn’t breathe. Though that could also have been from holding his breath for so long.

They remained in each other's embrace, even after their lips parted, though they had not drifted far, still seeming to pause close to the other's so that their breaths mingled. Both were breathing hard—Klea especially as she had been in the middle of a rant the first time and hadn’t taken a good deep breath in a while. She had hardly regained her breath before they dove in once more, nipping at lips, hands gripping and knotting in hair and fabric desperately as if each was the other’s lifeline, which in a way they were and had been for some time.

It seemed agony to part and they always remained close, with hardly a hairsbreadth between them. Raistlin closed the small gap with a last, light kiss before they finally separated once more.

If Klea’s face had been flushed beforehand it was positively beaming now. A strand of hair curled in front of her ear and Raistlin reached out to tuck it back behind. Klea captured his hand in hers and held it against her cheek for a moment. Even when she let his hand fall from her face her fingers tangled themselves in his, not releasing his hand—not that he wanted it to be released, ever again.

The clearing was silent save for their breathing which was gradually steadying. Raistlin’s heart was still pounding and he fancied it was desperately trying to join Klea’s, having gotten so close as to recognize a missing piece which it was now desperate to regain. Klea put a hand to her forehead, a gesture she did to wipe sweat from her brow but Raistlin thought was the most magnificent motion any being had ever made. That thought did make him aware to his ridiculous fanciful thoughts, but his passion was still a bit too inflamed to leave room for logic to creep back in. He would berate himself for his romantics later… or he would still be too amazed that this had even happened, that she returned his feelings.

Neither could quite think of anything to say for a long while, instead just standing, inches apart, fingers entwined, staring at each other and replaying the kiss(es) in their mind as if not able to fully grasp it. Finally, Klea breathed out a laugh. Raistlin chuckled a bit and that merely encouraged Klea’s humor to the point where she couldn’t stop laughing. Raistlin joined her for a bit but gradually, as her hysterics continued, he began to grow concerned—did she think this a hilarious incident? Did she regret it? Did she think his feelings for her a joke? He was annoyed and a bit fearful.

“It is not that funny,” he muttered.

Klea didn’t mean to, but his expression just made her laugh harder. He looked so serious and stern but unsure. She would have thought it funny no matter the circumstance, but she did recognize that her laughter now was probably giving him the wrong idea, she just couldn’t help it! She had liked him for so long, and he had seemed adamantly opposed to any deepening of their relationship. So much pain, joy, frustration, acceptance, and nervousness that no one had ever made her feel, all brought on by this thin boy with auburn hair and white robes, which were not quite white anymore after being drenched in the lake and dirtied with travel. She was just so happy and surprised and nervous at what it all meant— and then there he was still not recognizing— that she could do nothing but laugh.

“Three years!” she exclaimed as if it was the greatest joke. “And then… that… and you still… still don’t realize…” she could hardly get the words out, she was laughing too hard.

“I do not see why you find this all so amusing,” Raistlin retorted defensively, now feeling she was making a fool of him. He crossed his arms, looking like a petulant child, and it did not help Klea’s state.

“You are so… stupid sometimes…” she gasped out. Raistlin was getting increasingly upset and Klea pulled him closer and kissed him deep and gentle. “I feel the same as you, Raistlin. Gods, and you always say your brother is the big dumb ox, even he knew!”

“What? Caramon? What does he…” it took him a moment to process what she had just confessed, as if the kissing had not made it clear. “You… you feel the same?”

“Obviously,” she smirked, quirking her eyebrow. “Now we’ve wasted enough time… well, not wasted, I believe our time was put to good use,” she winked at Raistlin, making him blush, “but I should really be getting you home.”

Neither was quite sure how they could possibly make it back to town before dark, wanting to constantly stop to explore this new facet of their relationship, but somehow they managed. Both instantly turned red the moment they saw townspeople, interpreting their looks to be knowing though no one suspected anything of the two, in fact many still believed the fake relationship to be real and were simply surprised they had lasted so long.

They found they could not face Caramon, not yet—it was still so new they couldn’t quite take the knowing look he would give them and the possible teasing. In dodging Raistlin’s brother, the two stumbled upon another.

“M’lady,” Sturm nodded to Klea respectfully and then greeted Raistlin with a stiff acknowledgement.

Raistlin rolled his eyes but Klea swatted at his arm.

“Don’t start,” she whispered to him before turning to Sturm with a mischievous gleam in her eye and smile. “Sturm, I should thank you,” Klea began, making both young men look at her curiously. “You helped to settle a… dispute between us,” she smirked to Raistlin who fought valiantly to fight the blush creeping up. The two rushed off, leaving Sturm to stand looking after them, bewildered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, this took way too long, but hey they finally kissed so that should make up for the wait right? right?  
> Thank you so much for the reviews, they really do help me write (this one just got detoured by my semester that was supposed to be easy and is turning out not to be at all) and I greatly appreciate them and all of you sticking through this with me


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